Western Stars Sports Club will not be fielding a senior cricket team in the league this season.

After weeks of speculation, the Stars executive committee cited the lack of a coach and a shortage of players as key factors for taking what it hopes will be just a yearlong break. Stars were scheduled to compete in the First Division in the 50 Over League but had earned promotion to the Premier Division in the T20 competition.

“The executive committee of Western Stars Sports Club has made the difficult but necessary decision to pause its senior cricket programme for the 2026 season,” the club said in a statement.

“This decision was reached after extensive review and reflects our commitment to maintaining the standards, structure and long-term sustainability that Western Stars expects for its players and supporters.

“Western Stars has a proud cricketing legacy and remains deeply committed to the development of the sport within our club and across Bermuda. However, moving forward with senior cricket in 2026 would present significant challenges.

“The club has been unable to secure a suitable head coach to lead the programme. Without the appropriate leadership structure in place, we cannot provide the level of preparation, discipline and performance required for our senior players, or for the younger athletes progressing through our development pathway.”

It is envisaged that when Stars make a return next year their home ground will be ready for play.

“At the same time, the club continues to navigate operational and facility constraints,” the statement continued.

“Preparations are under way for our return to St John’s Field. This period will allow us to strengthen our cricket infrastructure, improve training and match day environments, to ensure that our operations are aligned with the standards we expect to uphold.

“This pause should be viewed as a strategic reset rather than a retreat — an opportunity to reinforce our foundations so that when Western Stars returns to senior competition, it is stronger, better structured and better prepared.”

Hasan Durham, the Stars director of cricket, addressed the status of players such as Bermuda international and Cup Match regular Tre Manders, who returned to the club in the close season after spending a year with St David’s.

“Tre Manders transferred back to Western Stars this season,” Durham said.

“But he’s going out on loan and we have a few players that have gone out on loan to other clubs because they’re looking to come back next season.

“We made the decision that it wouldn’t be fair to the existing players if every week you’re struggling for 11 players.

“It’s disappointing to a lot of people, but it’s something that had to happen and we didn’t take the decision lightly.

“We tried to see different ways to make it work but in the end it wasn’t possible for this season and we decided to take the year off so that we could put the structure in place.”

Chief operations officer Justin Robinson highlighted the effects of the club’s lack of a home ground.

“One of the biggest challenges was around facilities,” he said.

“When we look to play cricket every year we have to source a field, we have to source training facilities and this is at the expense of not having our field to utilise.

“We’ve been doing that for the past five-plus years. In the beginning it was OK and manageable, then as we’re getting down to these last couple of years it’s been an additional challenge to get a field that’s up to standard for what we are trying to accomplish at the club.

“We had challenges with logistics and there’s no fields close to this club that we could rent. The last couple of years we’ve been at Bailey’s Bay and they've treated us pretty good, but it’s not home and still you have to travel there.

“You’re a guest and you get treated like a guest a lot of times, so we just want our home. The anticipation was that our home would be ready for this year, which might have changed it, but it’s not.

“Next year when we launch we’ll have our field and we’ll have control of our training and logistics for players.”

While senior cricket pauses for the 2026 season, Stars will intensify its investment in youth development. The club’s junior programme continues to grow, headed by Jekon Edness, with active age groups at under-7, under-9 and under-12 levels.

“We started the junior programme about three years ago,” Edness said.

“It’s growing from strength to strength since then and this year we’re looking to have four teams in the BCB leagues, from under-7 up to under-12.

“We’re definitely looking to introduce our older age group to hardball cricket this year. From there, we’re just looking to continue to develop them.

“The youth programme will not immediately feed into the return of the senior team. Feeding into the senior team from the youth programme will still take about another three years or so.

“We will continue to work with our young cricketers in preparation of creating a pathway for them to play senior cricket at Western Stars.”