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THE Holy Ghost Fathers of St Mary’s College in collaboration with its stakeholders recently opened the newly constructed indoor cricket facility named the Saints Cricket Institute, located at the college’s grounds on Serpentine Road, St Clair. The facility is a one of its kind in TT.
A media release said the goal is to develop cricket at St Mary’s and other schools.
“After producing several first-class, national and Test players over many years, the vision of the institute is to offer a first-class facility for all young cricketers at CIC and to extend its services to other schools, the wider community, the national and international level.
“The goal is to unearth talent in order to widen the pool of players eligible for national selection and then move on to the higher international level. It is designed to be an institute of learning for all cricketers at any level.”
West Indies wicket-keeper Joshua Davis and Newsday columnist Bryan Davis, who both attended St Mary's, were at the opening of the indoor facility.
The facility offers three lanes along with bowling machines upon request. In a few months, there will be a game-changing addition to the facility when three new artificial turf wickets will be laid down, unlike any that is currently available in the country. Each lane will offer varied levels of speed. There will be a surface for spin bowling and another will be a surface for medium-fast bowling. The third lane will be one for faster bowling. In this way, players can opt to work on certain aspects of their game in the appropriate lane. This technology is being brought in from Australia and is an exciting feature to look forward to.
[caption id="attachment_1023879" align="alignnone" width="736"] Rudy Balwant, left, and Aaron Kurbanali point to a plaque in their honour from the Holy Ghost Fathers, for their efforts in making the facility a reality. -[/caption]
Another initiative underway will be the inclusion of a cricket library, located in the upstairs lounge/viewing area.
The chief coordinators of this project were Aaron Kurbanali, a past student, attorney at law and cricketer, now serving as head coach at St Mary’s and Rudranath (Rudy) Balwant, the manager/administrator of cricket at the college and recently retired teacher at the college.
Together they spearheaded all aspects of the planning, funding and monitoring of the construction phase, along with the generous assistance of many well-wishers and colleagues.
The major sponsors that made this exciting modern facility a reality are The Sport and Culture Fund of the Office of the Prime Minister and Proman TT Ltd as platinum sponsors.
There were also past students, cricketers and parents who joined in the venture through gold and bronze sponsorships including Miguel Toney and CVC Foundation in the United Kingdom, Cargo Consolidators Agency Ltd, the Harrilal family, RBC Royal Bank, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ross and Martin De Gannes, Tribe Carnival and Visual Eyes. There were also many who bought a brick on the Legacy Wall initiative.
It is the hope of the college that the use of the facilities at the Saints Cricket Institute will inspire others around TT to develop more facilities in schools and communities, taking cricket to the highest level of training and practice.
 
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