Primary School Cricket Competition bowls off Sunday

As part of efforts to revive the game of cricket among the younger generation of the West St. George constituency, the Ministries of Sports and Education have partnered with KFC to host a Primary Schools Cricket Competition.{{more}}

Dubbed the KFC West St. George Primary Schools 20/20 Championship, the competition bowls off on Sunday February 26 at the Belair Playing Field with a ball-o-rama followed by the opening ceremony.

At a press briefing held on Tuesday at the KFC Arnos Vale, chairman of the organizing committee, Ashford Woods, explained that the championship was organized as a result of the disappearance of the sport at the youth level.

Woods said that cricket is one of the most popular sports in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and in recent times there has been a proliferation of all types of competition.

“We hear about women competition, master’s competition, softball competition and these form part of an ever growing list of competitions…

“However, unfortunately, … while all of this has been happening, Primary school cricket which is to be the foundation and which at one time formed an integral part of the syllabus, has disappeared,” he said.

Five teams, the Coreas Gomea Methodist School, RSVG Police Belair, Log Enterprises Dorsetshire Hill, Teachers Credit Union Belmont Primary and First Caribbean Bank Sion Hill Primary will vie for the 20/20 championship title.

Woods also revealed that this is the first time that such a competition has seen all the participating teams obtaining sponsorship and commended the sponsors for coming on board.

Meanwhile, new Minister of Sports and Parliamentary representative for the West St. George, Cecil McKie pledged his full support for the competition, which he describes as replica of the successful West St. George masters tournament.

“…Woods indicated that last year, during the master’s competition, that the idea was born. It came out of persons from the West St. George community who participated in the competition.

“In fact, a lot of the things coming out of this competition will be fashioned from what has taken place in the Master’s tournament, which has been ongoing for the past six years and I would want to say it has been one of the best things to happen to sports in St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” the Minister stated.

Major sponsorship for the competition is being provided by KFC. Following brief remarks, the sponsorship cheque of EC$12,000 was presented to McKie by CEO and franchise owner of KFC, Ken Boyea.

Games will be played on weekends at the Belair and Dorsetshire Hill playing fields.(AA)