The Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) has renewed its sponsorship of the Primary and All-Age Cricket Competition for the fifth consecutive year by committing 3.3 million dollars to the hosting of this year’s competition. JN Money Services Limited, a subsidiary of JNBS, is again an associate sponsor. This announcement was made at a media briefing at the Club House Lounge of the George Headley Stand, Sabina Park recently (June 6).

Approximately 3,360 boys and girls from 224 schools are participating in the competition which was introduced to develop a structured cricket programme at the primary and all-age schools level.

Now in its 13th year, the competition is a vital part of the Jamaica Cricket Association’s development programme. Throughout the years, many successes have been gained as several cricketers such as Jermaine Lawson and Xavier Marshall have emerged from the competition to join the National Under 15 and 19 as well as the national senior teams.

“The Primary and All-Age School Cricket Competition is, in essence, an incubator, which seeks to identify skills and hone the performance of our young players to equip them to compete at the high school, national and regional levels,” commented Leesa Kow, Acting Executive for Marketing, Promotion and
Sales, JNBS. “It is against the background of the opportunity to develop human capital, that the JNBS continues to renew its commitment to the sponsorship of the competition,” Miss Kow added.

Jackie Hendriks, President of the JCA, disclosed that plans are afoot to boost cricket at the youth level with the introduction of a School of Excellence which will train young boys the tenets of the game.

“We have good cricket talents in this country. We want to capitalize on this and inculcate self-worth in our young cricketers from an early age,” said Hendricks.

Ludlow Watts, General Manager of the Sports Development Foundation emphasized the importance of nurturing the country’s young cricketers. “I hope this competition will provide more cricketers for Jamaica and the West Indies,” he stated.

“I enjoy playing cricket and I intend to continue playing the game when I move on to high school in September,” said André Black, 12 year-old-student of the Holy Family Primary, and member of the school’s cricket team.

Each participating school is given the relevant cricket gear and a trained coach is assigned. Other key players in the programme are the Parish Cricket Co-ordinators who organize fixtures lists, grounds, Umpires and distribution of equipment and funds.

The finals are set to take at the Melbourne Cricket Oval on July 11. Port Maria Primary and New Hope Junior High are the defending champions in the Primary and All-Age category respectively.

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