National Cricket Association honours its Best

For one night, whatever problems the St Lucia National Cricket Association (SLNCA) had in recent years were batted away, for it was celebration time with the staging of the annual awards ceremony Friday evening at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground.

The awards were an hour late getting underway, but no one cared and several of the early birds spent time reminiscing with friends and colleagues. There was certainly a lot to talk about as the guest list included prominent individuals here and abroad. To begin with there was Cricket West Indies Vice President, Dr Kishore Shallow; President of the SLNCA, Carol Henry and his executive; Past President of the SLNCA, Julian Charles; and Sandals Regional Public Relations Manager, Sunil Ramdin who was the guest speaker for the evening. Deputy Chairman of the National Lotteries Authority, John Estephane chaired the proceedings.

Henry’s address began on a sombre note by him asking the gathering, ‘”. . . to remember those who have departed from our very midst and beyond: Nick Elibox, Dhanraj Chaz Cepal and Lee Stephen.” Before reviewing 2019 he jumped ahead to 2020, congratulating West Indies Under-19 Captain Kimani Melius for giving a good account of himself at the recently concluded Under-19 World Cup in South Africa where West Indies finished fifth. 

Henry followed that up by applauding Saint Lucia winning the Windward Islands Women’s 2020 T20 Cricket Tournament that had concluded at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground the same day as the awards were held. He advised that five Saint Lucians, namely Ashlene Edward, Qiana Joseph, Malaika Edward, Zaida James and Yasmin St Ange, plus Nerissa Crafton as a reserve, had been selected for the Windwards Women’s Team.

That’s not all! Henry mentioned that James, Sunelie Dorius, Shania Cooper and Makada DuBois, with Skyy Smith named as a reserve, had been selected for the Windwards Under-19 team. Looking back at 2019, Henry provided a brief summary of three tournaments the SLNCA had hosted: 50-Over Senior Male, Alicia John T20, Sandals Under-19.

Henry did not dwell too much on the past and instead focused on SLNCA plans for the future: expansion of women’s cricket, an additional three national tournaments, improvement in public relations and media relations, affiliations with other sporting disciplines for collaboration to achieve aligned goals, town hall meetings prefaced by courtesy calls to garner support for calendar activities and grow the fan base, developing revenue streams to drive the cricket calendar, as there currently is none, and maximizing use of the Sports Academy.

Insurance for athletes has always been a topic of conversation but the SLNCA President proposed that it should take the form of a joint consolidated approach, with all sporting disciplines on board, in order to increase the pool of registered participants and thereby reduce premiums. Dr Shallow, the next speaker, spoke of some of the important matters that he and CWI President, Ricky Skerritt are focusing on: interacting with various stakeholders, for example corporate partners like Sandals; emphasis on youth development; and the female component of the game.

Dr Shallow, who witnessed the Windward Islands Cricket Tournament played here, said, “I was really happy to see some of the talented young ladies in the Windwards Tournament. It is nice to see this sort of talent coming out of female cricket. I am excited now to see what they are going to do in the CWI Senior Tournament in March. This is the time where individuals will be putting their hands up and aiming to make the West Indies team.”

Sandals has been a longtime supporter of cricket in the wider Caribbean, having contributed immensely to the sport in Saint Lucia, especially when it comes to the development of the game at an early stage. Said Sunil Ramdeen,  “Not only have we previously sponsored the West Indies Senior team, for the past 20-odd years we have partnered with the SLNCA to host the Sandals Cricket Academy. Two years ago we took things one step further when we became the official sponsor of the National Under-19 Cricket Tournament.”

Ramdeen expressed a desire to take the beautiful game to higher heights: “The goal is to take the game to another level and, in doing so, create the opportunity for our players to enhance their game and gain further experience.”

With the official proceedings completed, the following awards were presented: Senior Male Cricketer of the Year—Johnson Charles; Junior Male Cricketer of the Year—Kimani Melius; Senior Female Cricketer of the Year—Swayline Williams; Junior Female Cricketer of the Year—Qiana Joseph.

Recognized for the sterling contribution to cricket with Long Service awards were Elizabeth Williams, Verena Felicien, Henry Pierre and Oliver Scott Jr. 

Other awardees were Simeon Gerson (Most Wickets), Atonius Simon (Most Runs), Nerissa Crafton (MVP of Alicia John T20 Final).

 Jaqueline Inglis rendered the vote of thanks, bringing the presentation of awards to an end.