Eight Primary Schools on the island of Nevis were present at the ET Willet Park on Friday 3rd May as the Bank of Nova Scotia and WICB sponsored Kiddies Cricket festival took place.
The brief opening ceremony was chaired by Mr. Stascius Wallace who congratulated the Bank, the WICB, the local coaches, schools and children, for making the program a success. His remarks were preceded by an invocation by Mr. Carl Tuckett and the playing of the national anthem of St.Kitts and Nevis.
Ag. Director of Sports, Mr. Jamir Claxton was also high in praise for the sponsors of the kiddies’ program and challenged the young players to learn well and excel to the point of one day representing Nevis and ultimately, the West Indies team He also encouraged them to have fun.
Territorial Development Officer, Mr. Junie Mitchum who was representing the WICB, indicated that the kiddies’ program has been successfully run up to the present time but that the cricket festival involving the children which is a part of the program set up, had not been organized and noted that he had been given the responsibility to ensure that it happened. He further stated that in the near future, a similar festival will be held in St.Kitts.
He noted that the program was geared to the development of children ages 5 to 12 on field and classroom knowledge of the game of Cricket
Manager at the Nevis Scotia Bank, Mr. Charles Morton, also used the opportunity to encourage the participants to excel and encouraged them to take example from players such as Elquemedo Willet who was present and Kieran Powell, among others. He also informed the gathering that the festival was being staged in 11 other territories and pointed out that the winner from Nevis will later engage the winner from St.Kitts at a date to be announced.
He then officially declared the festival open.
Later the participants took to the field and entertained the sizeable crowd with their learnt cricketing skills.
In the final analysis, based on a unique points’ arrangement, the following were the overall results;
Semi finals—Charlestown Primary defeated St.Thomas’ Primary
St.James defeated Elizabeth Pemberton Primary
Finals—Charlestown Primary 179 points to ST.James’ 112 points—Charlestown Primary school the overall winner
Best batsman—Shaxez Jarvis-St.Thomas’ Primary
Best bowler—Boognerine Sharma-CPS
Best fielder—Zario Chumney-ST.James’ Primary
Best wicketkeeper—C-jay Parris—CPS
Most disciplined team—VOJN