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Prep school cricket gets $3m boost

Published:Wednesday | May 11, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Shelley Sykes-Coley (centre), manager of sponsorships, Scotiabank, shakes hands with Jamaica Cricket Association president, Paul Campbell, at the launch of the Scotiabank Prep Schools cricket competition, at the Elletson Road Police Station Cricket Ground yesterday. Looking on are Monique Todd (right), vice-president, marketing, public and corporate affairs, Scotiabank, and student cricketers Zachary Bell, Kadeisha Cooper and Brandon Miller. - Rudolph Brown/Photographer

Ryon Jones, Gleaner Writer

For the fourth consecutive year, some of Jamaica's young cricketers will do battle in the Scotiabank Prep School Cricket competition, which was launched yesterday at the Elletson Road Police Station Cricket Ground.

Title sponsors Scotiabank donated $3 million to the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) towards the running of the competition, which has been in existence since 2008.

This year's competition will feature 47 schools, which will be separated in groups in the preliminary round according to their counties. Surrey will field 23 teams, while Cornwall and Middlesex will have 12 teams each.

The matches will see the teams play 50-over encounters on small-sized fields, with each match scheduled to last for three hours. The county finalists will play a semi-final round and then a final to determine the overall winner.

An additional incentive for the young cricketers will be three bursaries, to be granted to the top performer from the three counties, valued at $50,000 each.

june 17 final

Defending champions Mona Preparatory, Covenant Christian Academy and Children's Centre, got the competition on the way yesterday at the Elletson Road Police Station Cricket Ground. The final is slated for June 17 at Sabina Park.

A two-day camp, which is scheduled to take place between June 18 and 19 at Sabina Park, will follow the competition.

Paul Campbell, president of the JCA, welcomed Scotiabank's sponsorship of the competition.

Campbell expressed pleasure that corporate entities such as Scotiabank continue to support the development of the sport and that Jamaica would benefit in the future from this investment in the sport of cricket.

Chairman of the Jamaica Independent Schools Association (JISA) Sports Committee, Wayne Robinson, echoed Campbell's delight in Scotiabank's support of the competition. Robinson also conveyed JISA's pleasure in endorsing the competition and expressed his hope that one day some of the players who have passed through the prep school cricket programme will go on to represent Jamaica and the West Indies.

Monique Todd, vice-president of marketing, public and corporate affairs at Scotiabank, uttered the bank's willingness to continue sponsoring the cricket competition, which she hopes will instill the discipline of learning a sport that can have lifelong influence on the development of young, impressionable minds.