KINGSTON: The George Headley Centre of Excellence, a mini-academy set up at the GC Foster College by the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) in collaboration with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), will open its doors today to 29 teenaged cricketers, including five girls.

Registration and a short afternoon cricket session will take place today while the formal launching ceremony for the three-week course is set for Tuesday afternoon. Yesterday, Phillip Service, the WICB’s development officer with special responsibility for Jamaica, who will be the administrative director of the mini-academy, said while there were still some concerns about money, all was set for the start of the course. “Basically everything is ready and the students are anxious and ready to start,” he said. “We still at this time have not acquired all the money we need but we are talking to a number of business people and we are very hopeful,” he said. The WICB has provided $500,000 of the $1.5 million budgeted for the mini-academy this year. A shortage of money has already forced a scaling down by half of the originally planned six-week course.

Planned as an annual part of the cricket calendar, the mini-academy, which will have former West Indies wicketkeeper/batsman Jeffrey Dujon as its technical director, will be developed as a feeder for the Shell Cricket Academy in St George’s Grenada. It is hoped that over-time, young cricketers from other Caribbean territories will take up scholarships at the George Headley Centre of Excellence. The curriculum will cover “cricket, complementary skills (movement, balance and vision), life skills (communication, hygiene, nutriction, conflict-resolution etc), fitness and conditioning, as well as mental skills tailored to satisfy the individual needs of our young cricketers.” Male candidates are selected based on their eligibility for the regional under-19 tournament the following year. Service and Dujon will be assisted by former Test fastbowler and world record holder for most Test wickets, Courtney Walsh and WICB coach and another former West Indies pacer Kenny Benjamin. Local coaches, including Andre Coley and Gibbs Williams — the latter is the cricket coach at GC Foster — will be integral to the day-to-day programme.

The five girls down to register for the prgramme today are: Kadith Kidd, Shadeen Nation, Stephanie Taylor, Keneisha Fearon and Tracey Ann Reid.
Boys: Doran McLeod, Ranardo Francis, Cordell Simpson, Dennis Bulli, Tarique Whyte, Albert Gopie, Marlon Johnson, Nicoy Samuels, Triston Reid, Tavare Green, Jaipaul Powell, Shawn Whitehorn, Roy Williams, Roderick Williams, Damion Ebanks, Oneil Wright, Steve Logan, Andre Clarke, Ricardo Williams, Darnell McCallum, Jeffrey Scott, Yanique Elliott, Ricardo Howe, Lorenzo Reid.

THERE are 19 under-15 cric-keters undergoing a two-week cricket camp at the new Sir Frank Worrell Cricket Develop-ment Centre.

Opening the camp yesterday, Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board president Alloy Lequay gave the 19 cricket sdudents an outline of the facilities at the National Cricket Centre, located at Balmain, Couva, Central Trinidad. He told the youngsters the TTCB spent ten million in developing facilities at the Centre. And said of  that amount, three million came by way of a donation from government and a soft loan from the West Indies Cricket Board. The remaining seven million he pointed out came from the TTCB without any outside assistance. Lequay was delivering his opening remarks entitled “From a Cowpen to the International Coaching Academy.” He  Lequay said  up to this point the Centre hosted an Under-15 United States team,  coaching seminar, Barbados schoolboys team, Trinidad and Tobago women team and the West Indies women team which toured Holland last week and qualified to play in the next Women World Cup Cricket Cham-pionships in South Africa in 2005. Apart from that, he said the NCC  hosted regional matches earlier this year and also helped in preparing the national youth teams, and now look ahead to  the 2007 World Cup.

Lequay said the TTCB had projected the opening of the academy because the WICB had put that idea on their backburner. He said  “through prudent financial management, the TTCB purchased 17.5 acres of land from Caroni 1975 Limited in 1995 to start the project.” He told the youths  the NCC was not aiming at producing cricketers only but “good people who can play cricket. “If we do that, then we would have succeeded,” he said. Dr Michael Seepersaud, chief development officer of the WICB, sent a message to the members of the camp, saying “you are here because we have identified you as the best and brightest young prospects that we have in the region. “Over the next two weeks you would have the opportunity to fine-tune your skills, not only in cricket, but in those other areas that are vital to succeed in life with or without cricket.” Those at the camp are: Jed Yearwood, Kevin McLean, Kemar Roach (Barbados); Kevon Fran-cois, Javed Mohammed, Keegan Roy, Anderson Beharry (Trinidad); Gajanand Singh, Krishna Deo-saran, Tavendra Pooran, Anthony Foster, Steven Jacob (Guyana); Zenisse Fowler, Ricardo Sitcheron, Ziggy Levy (Jamaica); Rodney Trott (Bermuda); Seon Sween, Lauron Francois (St Vincent); Justin Athanaze (Antigua).

Trinidad and Tobago Under-19 cricket team warmed up for the TCL Group Regional series with two victories against a representative U-23 side during the past week at the National Cricket Centre.

In the first game on Tuesday last, the U-19s led by Dinesh Ramdin scored 179 for seven wickets off  their allotted 50 overs. Lendl Simmons led the way with 31, and Deon Bennett  27. National senior and West Indies “A” team spinner Rodney Sooklal took three wickets for 27 runs. Excellent bowling by spinners Kavesh Kantasingh 2/13 and Rishi Bachan 2/15 and spearhead pacer Ravi Rampaul 2/21 saw the youngsters rout the U-23 for 132 for a 47-run victory. On Wednesday in their second game at the same venue the Representative XI  were bowled out for 133 with St Mary’s and Queen’s Park all-rounder Jonathan Augustus taking 3/25. Bachan took  2/13 and fellow spinner Kapil Subran 2/23. And the U-19s romped to a ten-wicket victory with Tishan Maraj and Bennett featuring in an unbroken 134-run opening stand.

Maraj who skippered the West Indies U-15 team to the World Cup title in 2000, hit an unbeaten 54, and Bennett got  a stroke-filled 62. The under-19s are scheduled to leave Trinidad and Tobago today for Guyana where they will be making a bid to bring back the title for the first time in 16 years. The team will be based in Kitty, Georgetown and will have the majority of their matches at the Linden Cricket Facility.

Summarised scores:
UNDER-19s — 179/7 (50 overs) — L Simmons 31, D Bennett 27, Tishan Maraj 18, R Sooklal 3/27 vs UNDER-23s  132 — R  Rampaul 2/21, K Kantasingh 2/13, R Bachan 2/15.
UNDER-23s 133 — J Augustus 3/25, R. Bachan 2/13, K Subran 2/23 vs UNDER-19s 134 for no wicket — T Maraj 54 not out, D Bennett 62 not out.

PACED by a hurricane 132 runs from Nicholas Ramphal, Demo-lition windball cricketers went into the record books of  the Sunshine Frosted Flakes/NSL Windball Cricket League.

Ramphal, a PowerGen player in the Carib National League Division I, helped Demolition to a record 279 for nine wickets off 25 overs against New Genera-tion at Penal last weekend. New Generation were totally demoralised after the ball-chasing they had and were routed for 16. The victory by 263 runs was the biggest in the history of the NSL. Bowler J Jairam another historic record, taking seven wickets for one run. History was also written in the league when Slammers and Burning Flames finished in a tie. Slammers totalled 68 for six wickets in their 25 overs, then bowled out the opposition for 68. Another team in prime form were New Recruits who defeated Avenue Boys by 63 runs at Barrackpore. New Recruits scored 157 with K Lutchman scoring 57, and Avenue Boys in reply were skittle out for 94. NSL boss Lincoln Persad playing for Grand Slam was also in good form getting a valuable 21 runs to lead his team to a four-wicket victory over Massahood.

Summarised scores: DEMOLITION 279/9 — N Ramphal 132, R Alphonso 2/50 vs NEW GENERATION 16 — J Jairam 7/1.
RUNNIN REBELS 141 — K Deosaran 35, A Deolal 28, A Abraham 2/18 vs  RETRENCH 100 — K Mahabir 23, M Roopchan 19.
NEW RECRUITS 157 — K Lutchman 57 vs AVENUE BOYS 94 — R Latchman 30, J Balliram 5/10.
FIVE RIVERS 74  — K Valentine 2/4 vs DUNDEE UTD 60 — S Balroop 4/16.
SLAMMERS 68/6 — J Elizabeth 3/10 vs BURNING FLAMES 68 – L Francis 3/8.
MASSAHOOD 103 — W Mohan 3/15 vs GRAND SLAM 106/7 — L  Persad 21, M Ramhit 31, N Lakhan 4/10.
SCRAPERS 58/6 — D Baboolal 26, S Soogrim 3/3 vs BUSTIN LOOSE 61/4 —  R Munsal 2/9.
FIVE RIVERS 107 — V Maharaj 93 vs PARADIGM 70 — E James 3/15.
NEW RECRUITS 98 — M Babwah 25, V Boochoon 3/8 vs X-TERMINATORS 50 — D Sooknanan 20, L Soogrim 4/10.

Sunrise Cricket club won both the 2003 BAS Penal Sports Association First Division title as well as the Saturday limited overs crown.

Sunrise finished with 100 points to take the title ahead of runners-up  Commonwealth who totalled 78 points. Third were San Francique United and Rochard Road Sports both with 66 points. And Sunrise also won the Saturday limited overs title also keeping out  Commonwealth. The Penal cricketers scored a hat-trick of titles for the Penal club. Tarouba Sports took the under-16 cate-gory with La Fortune and All Stars joint runners-up. Public relations officer Dhanraj Ramnarine said the Penal Sports Association will be hosting an Under-19 cricket team from Lenora Guyana from August 10 to 18. The visitors will play matches against Metronomes, Mer-cenaries, Victoria, Commonwealth and a two-day match against a representative XI from the asssociation.

Association president Leo Doodnath said: ”We had a very successful season in 2003 and we are looking forward to an even greater season in 2004.” Doodnath who is also chairman of the South Zone of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board as well as president of the Penal/Debe Chamber of Commerce added, “every year we notice growth in the league and this is good news for the sport of cricket in the Penal/Debe area. “For this I must say thanks to my entire executive, as well as the leaders of the respective clubs.”

THE Arima Race Club chalked up another first in the sport of  horseracing with the staging of their Emancipation Day card on Friday by running off a 1000 metres event over 1100 metres. And this comedy of errors occured in the opening event on the day’s 11-race programme.

The error was realised late, and ARC president Gerard Ferreira tried to rectify the situation on being notified just before the start, but efforts to  contact starter Bertram Lalsingh  proved futile. The seven-runner race was later declared void under Rule 52 of the Rules of  Racing, after trainer Maniram “Boboy” Maharaj quartet of Sunday Jewel, Java Takeover, Java In Style and All Set To Battle made a clean sweep of the $22,000 prize money at stake, along with the $1,000 incentive from the Racehorse Owners Association. Ferreira has promised to hold an inquiry into the affair to determine who is to be held responsible, and to put measures in place to prevent a recurrence. But to date, blame for the faux pas was being divided, with  the senior players in the industry heaping it on Lalsingh and his assistant Lennox Conliffe, while others pinpointed the presiding stewards of the day, chairman David Logrenard, Tyrone Kowlessar, Richard Halfhide and Roy Podmore for the negligence. Trainer John O’Brien who is also vice-president of the ARC was of  the view that the Stewards were guilty on this occasion, stating that they are responsible for the day’s  racing.

Trinidad and Tobago Racing Authority chairman Joe Hadeed saw it differently, and squarely blamed the starters, who are each afforded a programme with the races and distances before the start of a day’s peogramme. Hadeed was strongly of  the view that the positioning of the stalls was among their first responsibilities, but promised to place back these responsibilities other clearances into the lap of the stewards. The TTRA boss said he will ask that the green and red flag which was a thing of the past be re-introduced. The waving of the green by the stewards will denote clearance and the red non-clearance. Trainer Maharaj who was denied the distinction of leading in the top four finishers and also the purses, blamed the starter for Friday’s fiasco. “It is the duty of the starter to make sure all races start at their designated points at post time or soon after, he said. “If that was done then the problem would have been detected. “The President had the dignity to apologise for the shortcomings of  his staff and under discussion I agreed with  him to a re-run of the race on Saturday. “But the Rules of Racing did not permit. “While it allowed for a re-run on the same day with older horses it is not permitted with juveniles. “Because of that stumbling block we settled on running the race again with the same runners.”

UNIT TRUST Maloney Pacers are the undisputed champions of basketball in the east.

They confirmed this by capturing both the Eastern Community Basketball League Division 1 and Division 2 Big Four titles, to add to their league and knockout crowns procured in the earlier stages of the competition. The Division 1 Pacers were in a jovial mood despite their manner before the tip-off and their game play showed a high level of confidence and camaraderie combined with the skillful display which their supporters have grown to expect. Playing against the Marabella Raptors at the Maloney Indoor Sports Arena, Pacers showed their dominance with a 90-68 win watched by a partisan  crowd. The game was played at a tremendous pace and was a true display of mental and athletic ability as both teams went for the win as Pacers had already secured Game One of the three-game series and the Raptors were fighting to stay alive. Pacers got into a heady rhythm that kept the crowd alive and at times befuddled the opposition to lead 44-34 at the half, the win was a team effort but Randy Haywood’s 100 per cent from the free-throw line and Junior Harper’s three 3-pointers in his 11 points helped them widen the gap between the teams.

Miguel Williams also scored 11 points for Pacers and pulled down 10 rebounds while dishing out four assists. Raptors’ Damian Caton had 18 points and Ako Pascal 16, four rebounds and four steals. Dexter Sandy however left all present with something to remember when he put an exclamation point on the game with a monster dunk in the final seconds to signal an ecstatic flood of supporters on to the court. Earlier,  the Pacers Division 2 team were pressured by the experienced Veterans in their Game Two. But Pacers, coached by Jackson Charles, were bent on wrapping up the series and title and went on to a 69-61 victory over the Vets. Kenyatta Alfred scored 17 points and Julian Perry had 12 along with 14 rebounds for the winners, while Dereck “Cornbread” James scored a game high 23 points and had three assists, and  Ian “Poison” Gomes 13 points and nine rebounds, asnd added two blocked shots for the Veterans.
Pacers never relinquished the lead and stepped up their game to thwart the best effort the Veterans had to offer and made the night even sweeter for Charles who has coached both teams to a sweep of all division 1 and 2 titles in the inaugural season of the league.
Congratulations Pacers.

WILSON lives. The world’s greatest athlete is alive and well in the minds of those who followed his story in “The Wizard” comic of the 1940s and 50s, many of whom wrote to me after my exclusive disclosure of the great Caribbean man inventing the Fosbury Flop.

Many in the past have concentrated on his astonishing all-round ability as a track and field athlete but this was by no means his speciality. For instance, several readers have reminded me that he was an amazing cricketer, the all-rounder we have been searching for ever since Gary Sobers (who might be Wilson’s lovechild). As a bowler he invented the “double break” which pitched twice before reaching the batsman and turned a different way on each bounce.  Andy Roberts, our bowling coach, should set to work immediately working on the problem. His batting often threatened the roof-tops around Port-of-Spain (did I forget to mention he was a Trinidadian?). During the Second World War, in which he fought with unusual distinction as a Spitfire pilot, he also played his part in action on the ground. His most spectacular deed occurred when he found himself pinned down by a German machine-gun post armed only with hand grenades.

Wilson borrowed a cricket bat from a soldier who never went to war without it at his side (possibly another immigrant Trinidadian). He then persuaded the young man to lob grenades at him which he whacked with great accuracy into the enemy lines, wiping out the opposition. Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of England said he’d never seen hitting like it, not since Gilbert Jessop was a lad. The only time the Caribbean threatened the Continental domination of the Tour de France was when Wilson was asked to select and train the riders. He chose two policemen, a paper boy, three postmen and two gas fitters. They were selected because, at that time, they were all used to riding a heavy cycle in hilly country to go about their daily work. Particularly the guys from Biche and Las Cuevas. People of my generation reading this to their grandchildren will have to explain about the time when legs were used either for walking or pedalling a bike, rather than pressing the accelerator of a car. Indeed, muscular legs in our day were achieved by daily routine and not manufactured in health centres. A police chase often involved an officer on a standard police bike, weighing about the same as a small bullock, pursuing some miscreant on a drop-handled Raleigh with a Sturmey-Archer three speed.  I know because I was on the Raleigh. But that was in another country and, besides, the policeman is long gone.

Having selected his team in what seemed to be an eccentric manner, Wilson’s training methods were similarly unconventional. He had them riding for 50 miles minus the left pedal and then another 50 without the right pedal. He then rigged a pulley over a well to which he attached a bucket of lead. The contraption was then hitched to a bike and the cyclists had to lift and lower the bucket into the well. After three stages the Italian rider and favourite, Inocenti, was winning. Wilson didn’t know, but we did, he was a cheat. He was using a hypnotist. However, cheats never beat, not in those days they didn’t. What happened was the hypnotist and his caravan failed to negotiate a hairpin in the Alps and went for a short flight before crashing onto the rocks below. After that there was no stopping the Caribbean team. We reached Paris at the end of the race with our riders in first, second and third positions. When the triumphant team looked around to salute their manager, the Great Wilson had disappeared. He went back to the hills above Lopinot where his mother was born and his diet of spring water and berries. Please visit www.cornelis-associates.com for the best website management and change management.