Tony Becca/Columnist
TO THE older generation, cricket in Jamaica is not what it used to be. According to them, cricket has lost its place as the No. 1 sport in the land, it is now running behind football and track and field, and as far as participation and spectator support are concerned, that is true.
In years gone by, in the days when almost every boy played the game in the backyard, in every open space, even in the streets and on hillsides, cricket was king. In those days, club matches in the city were well attended, village matches in rural Jamaica were well attended, matches involving Jamaica were well attended and there was no room at Sabina Park when a Test match was on.
Today, however, that is not so. Today, all over Jamaica, football pitches outnumber cricket pitches, in contrast to cricket which attracts a few dozen spectators at local matches, football attracts thousands, and there is no comparison between a cricket match involving Jamaica and a football match involving the Reggae Boyz.
Does that mean that cricket has lost its appeal in Jamaica and, as so many have been lamenting in recent years, that it is dying in a country that produced such great players as George Headley, Alfred Valentine, Collie Smith, Allan Rae, J. K. Holt, Jnr., Franz Alexander, Jackie Hendriks, Lawrence Rowe, Michael Holding, Jeffrey Dujon and Courtney Walsh?
According to the old-timers, that is definitely so.
That, however, is not so. It is simply that football, like track and field, has become, as it has around the world and probably because of high-powered marketing, more popular over the years.
faster
Someone once said that sport mirrors a society and maybe the reason why football is now the number. one sport is because Jamaica, like the rest of the world, has changed, because everything is faster these days, and because a football match, unlike a cricket match which lasts for between one and five days, is 90 minutes of action.
Whatever the reason for the rise of football in Jamaica over the past 30 years or so, cricket is far from dead in Jamaica - and those who doubt it have only to look at the number of schools, particularly in rural Jamaica, that are playing the game, the many competitions, including some new ones, that are around, and what is happening in the parish of St. Elizabeth.
Cricket is alive and well in St. Elizabeth, and definitely so in South St. Elizabeth the home of Uprising Youth Club. In fact, cricket is flourishing so much in the parish that a new competition was launched two years ago in south-east St. Elizabeth, and based on the number of spectators it attracts every Sunday, it is going well - very well.
Organised by Vincent Miller, Wayne Bowes and Prince Myers and sponsored by NCB, the limited-over competition involves 12 teams - including Comma Pen, All Century, Lovers Leap, Chocolate Hole, Ridge United, Littz Southridge, Top Hill and Ballards Valley, with the age of the players ranging from 14 to 40, it caters to players of all ages, and on some days it attracts as many as 3,000 to 3,500 spectators.
sons of 'st bess'
The players in action on a Sunday include the likes of George Powell and Tony Powell, Troy Powell and Shane Powell, Howard Powell and Tyrone Vassell, Ainsley Goss, Conroy Miller and Nikita Miller all sons of St. Elizabeth, and with each team allowed two players from outside the parish, the players on parade also include young players like Andre McCarthy and Yannick Elliott, and veterans like Delroy Morgan and Wayne Cuff.
The matches in southeast St. Elizabeth are 35-over-a-side affairs, and in one match in the opening season, Todd Town scored 334 against Ballards Valley with Vassell hitting 201, in one match last season, Chocolate Hole amassed 424 against Top Hill with Olanza Harris scoring 162, in the opening season, Vassell smashed 32 sixes, and last season, Troy Powell of Comma Pen went one better with 33.
Cricket, for many reasons, may no longer be No. 1 in Jamaica. It is, however, far from dying. On the contrary, it is still exciting, and it is still close to the hearts of Jamaicans - particularly rural Jamaicans.
To those who do not believe, all you need to do is visit Uprising in South St. Elizabeth or Harper Miller Oval, Neif Mountain, southeast St. Elizabeth on a Sunday.
