Jamaica may have to follow England's lead (2 November 1998)

2 November 1998

Jamaica may have to follow England's lead

Tony Becca

Cricket in the West Indies is losing its appeal to youngsters.

In Jamaica, for example, the number of youngsters playing cricket in schools is getting smaller and smaller each year and before long, Jamaica and the rest of the West Indies, in their effort to save the game, may have to do what England have been doing for the past 10 years.

Faced with a similar problem, England decided in the 1980s to do something about it. They started a program called Kwik Cricket and today they are seeing results.

Kwik Cricket is aimed at boys and girls seven to 11, they play together in bright yellow tops, the plastic stumps are also yellow, they use blue plastic bats, orange plastic balls, the idea is for them to enjoy themselves, and according to Stuart Robertson - the England and Wales Cricket Board executive responsible for the prgramme, it has been a tremendous success.

In a recent article in the Sunday Times of London, Robertson said that the innovation is doing wonders for English cricket as far as participation is considered.

In the 10 years of the programme, 50,000 kits have been distributed. In the last few years, it has has been taken to more than 30 non cricketing venues, including seaside towns and balloon festivals, and today Kwik Cricket is played in 50 per cent of Primary schools and over 600,000 secondary school students, boys and girls, now play the game.

"We are now getting them interested in the hard-ball version of the game," said Robertson, "we are establishing links with clubs, and we will see how it goes from there."

Kwik Cricket has not yet produced a Test player for England. It has, however, says Robertson, produced Charlotte Edwards - considered by many the brightest talent in English women's cricket, and Robertson believes it is only a matter of time before players weaned on Kwik Cricket start to parade their skills in County cricket.

Whether it is Kwik Cricket or something like it, Jamaica, despite the efforts of the Caribbean Cement Company through its Primary and All Age schools competitions, is quickly getting to the stage where the fraternity, through the Board of Control, may have to do something to attract youngsters to the game.

Cricket, for example, is not played in Prep schools, and something should be done about that. Those schools could be a target - and so too a community like Portmore.

Source :: The Jamaica Gleaner (https://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/)