Oseta Jolly are champions of the Turks and Caicos Islands Cricket Association Inter-Primary School Friendly Competition after turning back the challenges of the Thelma Lightbourne Primary in the final of the three-team competition.
The match which was played the Downtown Ball Park saw the Kenisha Thompson-coached Oseta Jolly taking first knock and scored 87 runs from their allotted eight overs, with Bradley Singh top-scoring with 46 runs.
In reply, Thelma Lightbourne were skittled out for 32 runs, with the top-scorer getting a mere six runs, giving Oseta Jolly a 55 run win.
Female player, Albernique was named player of the tournament.
Rawle Gill, Development Officer for the Turks and Caicos Islands Cricket Association, and who coordinated the tournament, said the competition was geared towards developing the next generation of cricketers, to keep the national sport alive in these islands.
“We had a programme running for 10 weeks. Every Saturday from 9a.m. to 11a.m. So, coming to the end of the school term, we decided to have a playoff among the three schools – Enid Capron, Oseta Jolly and Thelma Lightbourne,” Gill said.
He told NewslineTCI that Cricket needs to return to its glory days in the TCI, and that, the tournament was one way of doing so. He said there is currently a gap between the senior players and youth players. And so, having events such as the primary school tournament was aimed to bridge that gap.
“We are trying to bring back cricket to the Turks and Caicos Islands, because Cricket is the national sport. And, after the senior cricketers would have left, well, we don’t have anyone else,” Gill lamented. “So, we have to bring the youth in it now. The transition from primary school to secondary school…what we intend to do is to have them register with the TCI Cricket Association, so they would have forms to take home to their parents and then return…so then, when they get into high school, we still have a grip on them, so we can continue with the cricket.”
Gill pointed out that the aim of the Cricket Association is pave the way for at least one youth player to be included in the senior team, to help with their development.
“What we are trying to do is that each team in the senior men’s competition, should have a youth. Right now, we do not have any youth who has reached that standard. And so, we want to raise the standard so that each team must have a youth player in the future,” pointed out, telling us that the aim of the competition was to get them up to speed, so that when the time comes for them to make the transition into the senior team, they would do so seamlessly.
“So right now, we are getting them to know the basics and then we are going to change them from the soft ball to the hard ball,” Gill said.
PLEASE SEE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE COMPETITION:
