Harvard Cricket Club celebrates 50

There have been many outstanding occurrences in this very simple club but it is the story of world renowned batsman Brian Charles Lara, who cut his cricketing teeth in the Harvard Cricket Clinic, was inducted in the ICC Hall of Fame in 2012, and is referred to as “one of the greatest cricketers of all time” that brings a smile to the faces of the entire membership.

One of the Founding Coaches/Administrators was my late father, Hugo Day, who would come home every Sunday after “clinic”, tired and worn out from an entire morning of coaching the very young in the “nets.” And this man who never spoke very much or went overboard emotionally about anything or person, would say to me as he divested himself of his coaching paraphernalia “There’s a young fella who is brought every Sunday morning to the nets from Santa Cruz, by his father, Bunty Lara. His name is Brian Charles Lara and once he follows what he is being taught, he will go far.”

Somewhere along the line Brian Charles left the Harvard Cricket Clinic but my father kept track of him and was so very proud when he gained selection to represent both the country and the West Indies. Then came the day in 1993 when both my parents were ecstatic as they chorused “Guess who called from Australia?” Brian Lara had scored his double century of 277 for the West Indies vs Australia in Sydney and called “Grandad” as he still refers to him, promising to visit when he returned home.

I still had not met this young man but it was enough that he made my parents happy by his show of appreciation for my father’s coaching in Net No 4, when he was just age 6 - 10.. In 1994, when he created history scoring 375 runs against England in Antigua, my father, a very reserved and retiring man who died in 1997, agreed to not only do a photo shoot down at the Harvard nets with Brian Charles Lara, but attended the President’s reception for his prot?g?.

The other Foundation Coaches of this Clinic which has contributed to the development of sport in this country for half a century are the late Trevor “Burnt Boots” Smith, Lennard Kirton, and Carlton Dore and Kenneth Roberts (both deceased). Head Coaches/Chairmen were Smith and Rex Dewhurst (deceased), and Azim Hosein, Calvin O’Brien, Dwight Day, Indar Ramgoolam and Waaz Hosein. Distinguished Support came from the late Edva Roberts and Patrick Massey. Ex Clinic Members who have returned to coach are Lester Cassimy, Carlton Harris, Kabir Hosein, Rory Isava, Richard Jeremie, Zafar Khan, Amrall Mohammed, Umesh Persad, Indar Ramgoolam, Rajendra Sewsarran and Kelvin Sukhu,

While the ex-distinguished members are WI: Lara, Ian Bishop and Dwayne Bravo; WI Youth: Anil Balliram, Avidesh Samaroo, Zaheer Ali and Denzil James; T&T: Anthony Dharson, Leon Romero, Keno Mason and Andre Lawrence; T&T Youth: Lester Cassimy, Zafar Khan and Jaishan Kanhai. And from the Football Clinic, Shaka Hislop, T&T World Cup Football goalkeeper.

It is felt that the two factors which impacted on membership totals through the 50 years are primarily the performance of WI and Lara; and secondarily the Proliferation of Coaching Schools, so that the Clinic which started with a total of 53 members, and totalled 10,000 over the 50 years, shows a membership of 160 in 2014. Members have come from Port of Spain and Environs, East as far as Sangre Grande, various Areas of Central and South, including Princes Town, Point Fortin and Moruga.

The Cricket Clinic is not rooted to the Harvard Nets, but travels, and overseas tours have been made to Barbados (11), St Vincent (2) and Grenada (2). Also there have been week-end visits to numerous country districts in Trinidad from 1968 - 2014 and three tours to Tobago.

Five elements of the Cricket Clinic’s golden anniversary celebrations which coincides with Digicel’s 10th year of sponsorship are: A Picture Gallery to be mounted throughout the Season with a display of pictures of interest: including distinguished ex-members and coaches, touring teams and other available material to be on view in the Club from February to July. The Opening Ceremony which took place on February 01. A Tour by an Under 12 Team from East Bay Youth Cricket Association (EYCA) of California, USA, coached by an Ex-Clinic Member, Clint Copeland, during which Harvard is arranging a schedule of matches against Coaching Schools including its own. The closing ceremony on June 28 at which Coaches with 15 years of service and over will be recognised. And finally a Tour to Guyana by an under 18 team from July 17 to 28.