Elderslie blaze the trailfor community cricket

André Gordon, Gleaner Writer

ELDERSLIE, St Elizabeth

Jamaica's history is filled with accounts of how the village raised the child in the good old days and how communities worked together for collective development. While these practices are dying in some areas, the community of Elderslie, St Elizabeth, continues to work together for the development of the game of cricket.

The community recently celebrated the homecoming for the Elderslie Primary and Junior High School with a symbolic cricket game between an overseas-based team from the diaspora and a local community team. Even though there was not an overwhelming outpouring from the overseas-based past students, the community was out in large numbers to support the activities of the day.

With cricket firmly embedded in the DNA of the community, the Elderslie cricket team recently hosted a cricket competition in a bid to energise the players in Elderslie and surrounding communities. Four teams participated, including Mulgrave, Cedar Springs and Arcadia. The Social Develop-ment Commission (SDC) assisted with the organisation and execution of the competition which was contested over a two-week period, with the finals taking place on January 2.

Long in coming

Community development off-cer from the SDC, Dramaine Jones, said the competition has been long in coming and was conceived through hard work with commu-nity groups.

"Youth clubs in the Maggotty area have been asking for a competition which will enable them to expose their cricketers and build community relations through participation and sports. Throughout the planning and execution of the competition, it was seen where persons from the community got back a sense of volunteerism and community pride, and we at the commission embrace this venture and have been very active in guiding the planning and the execution of the cricket competition. To ensure that the end product is continued community development and sports is just one such avenue which builds communities," Jones added.

According to manager of the Elderslie cricket team, University of Technology lecturer Glyndon Newsome, the community has a firm tradition in playing good cricket going back as far as the 1950s and 1960s. Newsome, who is also a past student of Elderslie Primary and Junior High and a member of the Melbourne Cricket Club, has been involved with the team over the past two years and has guided them through creditable performances in the SDC-hosted competitions. Although the team was eliminated at the knockout stage in the first year, the promise shown by some of the players was enough to encourage a continued investment in the team by the community.

"Even though we tried, we were unable to secure sponsorship for today's tournament. This competition has a greater value for the development of the young people who play, infusing a sense of discipline and purpose. The trophy was donated by the past students and we added a case of beer as second prize," Newsome said.

Equipment, facilities needed

The major problem facing the advancement of cricket in the community is equipment and facilities. Last year, the Digicel Foundation donated over $200,000 worth of equipment to the team but, while this is commendable and has improved the lot of the cricket programme, much more support is needed.

"The team has been motivated by the gesture by Digicel, but we need assistance with the development of our facilities," Newsome told The Gleaner recently. "We have also applied for assistance from the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) and, to date, we have a provisional confirmation that the project will be financed, but we have no confirmation of when work is to begin.

"We are hoping for complete rehabilitation of the playing surface. The current playing surface is far less than desirable. In fact, it was prepared by the members of the team with the aid of machetes, hoes and other simple instruments. Dirt for the pitch was also transported with buckets.

"We would like to have players in the Jamaican and West Indies teams in another 10 years, but in the immediate future, we would like to be in the finals of the SDC competition," said Newsome.

The community is also very active in other sports such as football and netball, with the football team performing really well in the recently completed R.G. Rowe seven-a-side football competition.

CAPTION: Councillor of the Ipswich division, Errol Hummingbird (left), posing with members of the winning Elderslie community cricket team. The community recently celebrated the homecoming for the Elderslie Primary and Junior High School, with a game between an overseas-based team from the diaspora and the community team. - Photo by Andre Gordon