Women’s cricket in SVG is on the verge of dying

14.MAY.10

Editor: “Development”. This is the most used word in the sporting circle, to be more specific Cricket. You hear “Development of youths”, “Development of Playing facilities”. Where is the development? Am I missing something? We do not need Jessica Fletcher from “Murder the Wrote” to solve this. There is evidence everywhere. SVG under-15 and under-19 teams participating in the Windward Islands Cricket Competition 2010 were a disaster. The reason is simple.{{more}}

There is absolutely no constructive strategic plan for youth development. I dare anyone to prove me wrong. Management waits until the time for a tournament comes, then looks for whom they consider “talented”. Make no mistake, SVG is saturated with young cricketing talents, but as the former West Indies Cricket coach Mr. B King once said: “Talent does not go into score books”. Unless something constructive is done urgently, SVG cricket, five years from now, will be what it is today. This is not development. It is called stagnation.

Last year, the under-19 girls took a lot of flogging for participating in the regional tournament. I listened to a member of the SVGCA ripping and making all sort of ridiculous remarks about the girl’s inability to play the game. I wanted to withdraw my daughter from the team, but chose not to, because she loves the game. One year has past since, and not a thing has been done by the board to help or encourage these girls to grow in the game. If it was not for Mr. Burnett, who has been freely giving his time to help and encourage, some of these girls would not play the game. Women’s cricket in SVG is on the verge of dying, and it will be an embarrassment, especially since the country has produced some of the best players currently on the West Indies Team. I challenge the board to show one thing that they have done to bring young women to the sport.

Women’s cricket in the country needs help. We need a schools’ competition.

Concern about cricket crumbles.
Arnos Vale
Brenda J