St. Kitts cricketers ready to win LI and NAGICO tournaments

By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

St. Kitts Captain Shane Jeffers readies his stroke for today’s match against Nevis.

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-ON the eve of their first match in the Leeward Islands Cricket Tournament, Team St. Kitts has firmly stated that their thorough preparation will deliver them victory in the 2009 event. 

SKNVibes spoke to the team yesterday (July 2) at their final net session before taking on Nevis today at St. Mary’s Park in Cayon, and team officials said their confidence was very high. 

“In terms of preparation, we have been preparing for quite awhile now. The guys came straight out of the local league and came straight to the trials and practices that we’ve had over the past six weeks. I believe that we have a very strong, and compact team going into the tournament,” Assistant Coach Donald Farrell said. 

He noted that part of their confidence came from having some of St. Kitts’ best former cricketers working closely with the team to impart knowledge from their vast wealth of experience. 

One such cricketer is Victor Eddy, who played for the St. Kitts national team, the Leeward Islands and Combined Islands teams and served as Vice-Captain of the West Indies B Team in 1983. Furthermore, Eddy is the only cricketer in the 81-year history of the Leeward Islands tournament to captain his nation to victory at only 18-years-old, which he did for St. Kitts in 1973.

Former national and Leeward Islands cricketer Victor Eddy had many words of wisdom for Team St. Kitts this year

“I can personally say that I think the St. Kitts cricket team will do very well in this year’s tournament, and I think they have a very good chance of winning both the three-day and one-day formats,” he told SKNVibes. 

Eddy said that past greats of St. Kitts, such as Leroy Coury and Virgil Newton, taught this year’s team many of their bowling secrets that will likely give them the edge needed to win against tough competitors like Nevis and the returning champion, Antigua. 

“They shared their various experiences and pointed out their various skills. Mr. Coury demonstrated a few skills about the leg break and googly, and when it came to Virgil Newton, he spoke about the art of left-arm orthodox spin. In a collective effort, it was very good,” Eddy stated. 

Meanwhile, the team’s Physical Trainer, Kenny Douglas, said that he believes the team is of top physical and mental fitness at this point. 

“We have been doing a lot of mental work with the team when they are tired…and this will help them in the long run,” he said before adding that playing at home would give them “a real boost” against the competitions tougher teams. 

Following the three-day matches of the Leeward Islands Cricket Tournament, the team will go directly into playing the one day international matches of the annual NAGICO Insurance tournament. 

Though he predicted victory for St. Kitts at both of the tournaments, Eddy said the team would be focusing on one match at a time as they prepared for the first ball to roll today at 10 a.m. against Nevis. 

“It will be a good contest and St. Kitts will no doubt not be underestimating the Nevisians,” he said.