The 2018 Atlantic National Primary Schools cricket league was officially opened on Friday at the Cumuto Recreation ground and to celebrate the occasion Montrose Government came up against Rochard Douglas Presbyterian in a 15-overs encounter.
Prior to the start of the match officials of Atlantic led by Anil Seunath greeted the players, as well as officials of the primary school cricket league. Representing the league was president Brent Francis, as well as vice president Sharzad Khan, who also doubled as the ministry of education representative being a school’s Supervisor I. Attending the event was West Indies leg-spinner Samuel Badree.
Francis, President of the Primary Schools Cricket League said that the 2018 season promises to be highly competitive, because many of the participating teams will be trained by coaches fresh out of the Atlantic Coaching Excellence (ACE) certification initiative. "Atlantic's ACE programme has been instrumental, getting Cricket Australia to come in and help lift the coaches' techniques to the next level," Francis said. He continued: "They've been exposed to some of the things being done in the international arena and that will result in the children playing with greater and greater skill. We in the League are excited at some of the things we're seeing in these boys and girls, even though they are under 13. They're having fun, but some of them are showing real potential to continue playing cricket at the highest level in the future."
After the formalities, it was on to the playing arena and Montrose Government batting first scored 104 for three in their 15 overs. The game went right down to the wire as Rochard Douglas needed two runs to win off the final ball but came up short at 103/5. Montrose ran away winners by one-run.
Games will continue in the Boys and Girls Inter-School Competition until May 19. The leading schools will then advance to the National Play-Offs, which will run from May 21 until May 29. The top scoring schools will then advance to the Quarter-Finals, which are carded to begin on June 5.
