On Friday, June 21st, Cricket West Indies, the Association which promotes cricket among youngsters throughout the Caribbean, met at Webster’s Park with young cricket teams from the six public primary schools to begin a playoff for Kiddies Cricket Camp 2019.
Before the activities began, Mr. John Mullington, PRO of the Association spoke with The Anguillian and gave an overview of the day’s proceedings: “Today we are hosting the schools’ Kiddies Cricket, played among the primary schools. This is going to be a big cricket festival where the teams of the six primary school will be competing against each other.
“In order to enhance the fun, we will also be having the bouncing castle, face painting, cotton candy and other attractive children’s treats, all of which will be free.” Mr. Mullington stressed, “Cricket West Indies is moving seriously, striving hard to develop cricket among our youngsters of Anguilla and the region.”
Kiddies Cricket is proud to have Scotia Bank as its prime sponsor. Mr. Mullington spoke to that fact by saying: “Scotia Bank supports Kiddies Cricket as our main sponsor. It has been supporting the event for many years now, so much so that the event is dubbed ‘The Scotia Bank Kiddies’ Cricket’. All on our cricket gear are predominantly red and carries the Scotia Bank logo.”
The President of the Cricket West Indies Association is Ms. Anne Parles, and she spoke to The Anguillian as well: “Cricket West Indies is in the forefront of these cricket activities for the children.
Last May, at Lord’s in London, a fundraiser was conducted by Cricket West Indies in which some US$600,000 was raised. These funds were split among the territories. Anguilla was able to receive EC$200,000 as its share. With these monies, we intend to redevelop certain sections of the park and upgrade our facilities so that the youth would be able to play more conveniently.”
Ms. Parles mentioned that the local Cricket West Indies association was excited because on that very day, June 21st, two under-seventeen Anguillian players were off to Antigua to participate in the Summer Cricket Camp there. She said it is a possibility that they might be selected to play for the Leeward Islands and make Anguilla proud.
Kiddies Cricket has been taking place in Anguilla for the past 15 years. The local association of Cricket West Indies wishes to thank the following faithful sponsors: Scotia Bank, Trans Anguilla Airlines, Anguilla Social Security, Straw Hat Restaurant, Merchants Market, IWAS, Tropical Distributors, Greig’s Trucking, Cuisinart Resort and Residences, Mingz and Hall’s Bakery.
Cricket West Indies (CWI), formerly known as West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), is the governing body for cricket in the West Indies (a sporting confederation of over a dozen mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries and dependencies that once formed the British West Indies).
It was originally formed in the early 1920s as the West Indies Cricket Board of Control, but changed its name to West Indies Cricket Board in 1996. In November 2015, the Board resolved to rename itself as Cricket West Indies as part of a restructuring exercise that would also see the creation of a separate commercial body. This rebranding formally occurred in May 2017.
– Staff Reporter, James R. Harrigan
