Ten cricket clubs receive Digicel Grassroots Grants

St Catherine CC among successful applicants

St John's, Antigua:

Ten clubs across the Caribbean, including St Catherine Cricket Club, will benefit from West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Digicel Grassroots Grants, amounting to over US$45,000 (J$3,825,000).

Three of the 10 clubs are from Barbados, two from Trinidad and Tobago and one each in Antigua, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica and St Lucia.

The clubs have received grants for a wide variety of cricket development purposes, ranging from the procurement of cricket gears to development of pitches and outfields and the acquisition of driving mowers.

Over 24 clubs had applied for grants of up to US$5000 (J$425,000) each for various projects and training programmes, as part of the WICB initiative to assist in the development of cricket at the grassroots level.

Following a review, 10 were selected for the first batch of grants in phase one of the two-year programme.

There will be three other application periods for 2011-12.

"We received a large number of impressive applications, and while we would wish to be able to offer more grants, we are pleased that we will be able to assist 10 worthy clubs with developing cricket at the grassroots level in the Caribbean," said WICB project officer for Grassroots Cricket, Fawwaz Baksh.

Randy Nelson, a member of the management committee of St Catherine Cricket Club, commented: "We are very excited about this Grassroots Grant. Our club has been doing a lot of work with youngsters with the three high schools around the area, and we will support them with practice."

Nelson added: "While we have just over 100 registered members, the work that we do at St Catherine Cricket Club positively affects several hundred more."

positive image

Allan Ramjass, president of the Orange Field Sports Club in Trinidad and Tobago said: "The Grassroots funding for the purchase of a driving mower will allow us to ensure that our playing field is properly cut for matches and all the programmes we execute.

"It will say a lot for a small club such as ours, which faces many challenges. Not only will our field be properly cut, but it will create a positive image for us, and it will say that Orange Field Sports Club is a club on the move.

"I want to extend deepest gratitude to WICB for this grassroots initiative. The 'grassroots' name alone says a lot about what the WICB wants to do for cricket. Small clubs lack so much sponsorship, sometimes you think that nobody cares about the work we are doing, so this WICB and Digicel initiative is really refreshing because we are working together on using cricket as an avenue for community development."

Recipients

Jamaica: St Catherine Cricket Club - bowling machine, practice balls, training equipment.

Barbados: Isolation Cavaliers - pitches and cricket gears; Pickwick Cricket Club - covers, nets, boundary rope, cricket equipment; St Catherine Sports and Social Club - ground preparation and land filling.

Trinidad and Tobago: First Citizen Clarke Road United - cricket gears and coaching; Orange Field Sports Club - drive mower

Antigua and Barbuda: Pigotts Sports Club - cricket gears and drive mower.

Dominica: Grand Bay Sports Committee - covers, door and burglar bars.

Guyana: Wakenaam Community Centre Ground - sightscreen, ground levelling and rolling.

St Lucia: Choiseul Cricket Coach Programme - Coaches, playing surface, pitch construction and cricket gears.