Two years ago the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) reintroduced school cricket as part of its calendar of activities. Its re-establishment was a collaborative effort with the Education Ministry and it is called the National Secondary School Cricket League.
In its first year it was deemed a success and currently in its second year it has expanded, with more than 150 teams participating in the League. Chase Academic Foundation won the first edition, fulfilling expectation. The private school is already North Georgetown Zone Champions in the 2016/2017 season and they so far seem destined to win for a second successive time.
Again, that is expected since Chase has the necessary resources, or it should be known that Chase invests in the necessary resources that other schools do not have or cannot afford.
The GCB introduced the school programme as part of its development plan, however, the event is not being facilitated as such.
It is clear that all the schools participating do not have the necessary resources to win or produce quality players, so the GCB needs to ensure that these schools are provided with playing gears and there must be pre-tournament programmes. This should be done to teach the children the basics of the game, as well as equip teachers with better coaching skills so they could guide the students in the absence of a skilled coach. This could be a long-term plan that could see the teachers develop overtime, thus produce better players.
Secondly, it is clear players cannot develop if they do not know the basics, but what if it is a knockout tournament? Would there be room for development? Absolutely not. If the best players can fail in a one-off game, then it is harder for those without experience.
The new players are challenged with the task of executing what they have learnt, if they were taught anything at all. Therefore, the tournament should not be run on a ‘loser goes home’ format. There should be scope for players to showcase their abilities. Maybe three group matches would be ideal for such possibility.
It will be easy for a school with a set-up like Chase’s to be successful, because the school has the players and the method of approach is intact. West Indies youth players and national under-15 skipper Sachin Singh and Ashmead Nedd are their marquee players, while there are other players with inter-county experience and club experience. Most of these players attend this school on sport scholarship, thus it is easy for them to dominate. The school also dominates football, and in 2016 they won their first Digicel Secondary Schools Title.
If the governing board is thinking of development then there needs to be better measures to improve the League to make it more competitive; there must be pre-tournament programmes, each school should be given gears, it should not be a knockout tournament.
Once the League becomes more competitive it will attract club authorities, who will scout for talent for their club. There are also other positives that should emerge.
However, if it remains the same then it is defeating its purpose, the club cricketers will dominate and as a result only a few will benefit.
