As Australia marched into the Women’s World T20 semi-finals after winning their first three group matches, the entire team took time off their busy schedule to visit the East Ruimveldt Secondary School on Mandela Avenue Wednesday last.
Australian players view items showcased by the East Ruimveldt School
The school’s outreach programme is an International Cricket Council (ICC)-driven initiative that is embraced by Cricket West Indies (CWI) to bring the students closer to international players and raise awareness of women’s cricket. The school outreach has also inspired the young potential female cricketers to reach for greater heights in the cricketing world.
Australia are the fourth team to visit schools in Guyana: India visited West Demerara Secondary School, New Zealand visited Diamond Secondary School and Pakistan visited President’s College.
The tournament’s leading run scorer, Alyssa Healy sharing a light moment with students (Brandon Corlette photos)
Speaking to local media, CWI Senior Project Officer KJ Singh explained that the international teams had a great experience visiting the schools across Guyana since they were exposed to the rich and diverse Guyanese culture. The school’s outreach programme had three different categories: Cultural displays, friendly-cricket matches and samples of Guyanese dishes. In the cultural displays, students and some teachers were engaged in dances, plays, poetry among other cultural items. Additionally, the international cricketers who visited each school played windball cricket matches against the local school’s cricket team. Since Guyana is also known for its second-to-none dishes, the international cricketers were given the opportunity to taste the wide variety of food and drink.
East Ruimveldt students and the Australia cricket team sharing a priceless moment (Brandon Corlette Photo)
The versatile Australian players witnessed the rich and diverse culture as the East Ruimveldt students and teachers displayed cultural items in a planned programme. The administration and students of the East Ruimveldt School received tickets to witness the Australians take on the mighty Indian team on Saturday at the National Stadium Providence, East Bank Demerara, Guyana. Captain Meg Lanning received a significant piece of artwork from the headteacher of the East Ruimveldt Secondary School which produced one of the great West Indies batsmen, Ramnaresh Sarwan.
