January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Are we focusing too much on elite crickters?
The university contains a centre of cricket excellence which should help with their development as cricketers.
This coupled with others being sent to academies in South Africa and Australia as well as the exposure those fortunate enough to be selected for overseas tours is a good thing.
The Board should be commended for their efforts in this regard.
However, I must confess to being concerned about what is happening or should I say not happening with those cricketers who perform so admirably week in and week out in our domestic league — players such as Reid Jones, Ryane Shepherd, Arthur Pitcher jr and Dean Stevens.
There is a need for these players to be provided with the coaching and incentive they need to take their game to the next level as well.
It is easy to focus on the elite cricketers and the youth, but if we are serious about improving the standard of our game, we must be prepared to work with all of our players, to help them reach their full potential.
Prior to the amalgamation of the BCBC and the Somers Isles Cricket League, the standard of play in league competition was high. Most clubs had at least seven or eight quality players.
This naturally resulted in the country having a very strong national team.
The same can be said for other cricketing countries. During the golden era of West Indies cricket, the standard of regional cricket was very high.
The Shell Shield (as it was known then) contained many outstanding players such as Sylvester Clarke of Barbados, Everton Matthis of Jamaica and Ralston Otto of the Leeward Islands.
The result was that because you had a very competitive domestic league then the Test team was strong.
If you look at Australia today, their domestic competition is probably the toughest in the world.
I would like to see the Bermuda Cricket Board take the following steps to ensure that we move towards improving the standard of our domestic cricket by:
n Encouraging the formation of a coaches’ association. Such a body would consist of all the island's cricket coaches, including the national coach Gus Logie. They would meet regularly and lay out strategies and goals with respect to the coaching players.
n Bringing in specialist coaches to assist in certain areas.
For example quite often we hear our fast bowlers criticized, for being slow and ineffective.
It would be good to bring in someone such as Kenny Benjamin or Bob Cottam for a few weeks during the pre-season to assist our local fast bowlers and teach the coaches how to work with them.
n Ensuring that as many players as possible are exposed to international competition.
The Board have made steps in the right direction with plans to provide the clubs with the necessary tools to get their facilities up to par.
But the most important thing is to provide the clubs with coaches who can guide our players in the right direction.[[In-content Ad]]
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