Windies Players Teach the Tricks of Their Trade

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Published on Saturday, 14 July 2012 20:23

Written by Jacque Bryan

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Warner Park, Basseterre, St. Kitts: A group of enthusiastic and talented kids from St. Kitts and Nevis had the opportunity to spend time with some of the West Indies players recently and learn some of the tricks of the trade at the Digicel Cricket Experience held at Warner Park on the eve of the 4th Digicel ODI.

The 19 youngsters from St. Kitts and four from Nevis were taken through their paces by West Indies Captain Darren Sammy who was joined by Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Tino Best, Ravi Rampaul and the newest addition to the squad, Devon Thomas.  All of the participants are Under-15 cricketers from the WICB Digicel Grassroots Cricket Programme and were accompanied by their coaches.

During the session, the youth cricketers were separated into different clusters which focused on batting, bowling and fielding skills and were conducted by the West Indies players.  West Indies Captain Sammy made the fielding clinic more interesting by having the kids compete for one of his training shirts which raised the level of competition and resulted in the skipper having to surrender two of his shirts.

“This is this biggest joy these kids could have,” said Livingston Lawrence, one of the coaches from Nevis who has 20 years coaching experience under his belt and been with the grassroots cricket programme since its inception.  “Interacting with these West Indies players has been more exciting for them than the boat ride over from Nevis!”

13-year old Melicia Clarke was the only girl in the group but more than held her own against her male counterparts.  The pace bowler from Nevis was very impressive and drew the attention of the West Indies cricketers.

“I’ve been playing cricket since I was seven-years old,” said Clarke.  “Today has been awesome.  I got some tips on how to hold the ball and run off the pitch and I got to meet my favourite cricketer, Ravi Rampaul.”

“The objective of the Digicel Cricket Experience is to bring the kids closer to the game and the West Indies players so that they can get a glimpse of what is possible through hard work, discipline and determination,” explained Nicola Sutherland-Hawkes, Digicel Group Sponsorship Manager.  “Many of these professional cricketers came up through programmes similar to the grassroots programme and have achieved greatness as a result.  We want to give these kids the same hopes and aspirations and see them succeed in the sport.”

The Digicel Experience moves on to Antigua next where the 1st Digicel Test will take place from 25 to 29 July.

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