BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE Leeward Islands Cricket Association (LICA) is looking to build on the recent success of its junior teams in order to raise the standard of the sport in the sub-region.
This decision comes as the senior and some junior teams have in recent times found themselves languishing at the bottom of the points table in major competitions.
But this year, according to the Director of Cricket Operations at LICA, Vernon Springer, the junior teams have shown good skills and temperament to win as they have put in credible performances at the regional level.
In a recent interview with SKNVibes, Springer explained that during the 2017 Cricket West Indies Tournaments, the Leeward Islands Under-15 team placed second under coach Steve Liburd, while the Under-17 and Under-19 teams, which were led by Winston Benjamin, placed third and fourth respectively.
Those achievements, he believes, signal a change in the fortunes of the sport within the Leeward Islands.
“When you look at those performances you can see that something is happening. But what I think we have to concentrate on now is our coaching education in the islands.”
Springer noted that they are not as privileged as some of the larger territories that have more resources to invest, while explaining that if they want to have coaching clinics and camps they would have to fly personnel into various islands, unlike Guyana, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.
He pointed out that it would be a costly venture for the Cricket Association should coaching clinics and training camps be established in each island that makes up the Leeward chain,.
“So we are working along with our Territorial Development Officer, Junie Mitchum and Cricket West Indies to see if they can up the ante for our coaching education. So there is going to be a number of coaching programmes coming up over the next couple of months – because that is where you have to start.”
Further, it was suggested that now is the time to have specialized coaches within those territories, as Springer pointed to their women’s programmes which is in its second year and they now have to find personnel to deal with that development.
“People would recognize our challenges, but we would get better at what we are doing,” he said.
Currently, the men’s senior team is competing in the Digicel-sponsored Professional Cricket League, where they drew their opening encounter against the Windward Islands in St. George’s, Grenada.
