Tony Becca, Contributing Editor
JACKIE HENDRIKS, the president of the Jamaica Cricket Association, has announced that as of next year, an Under-19 team will be participating in the Senior League competition and, according to some directors of the association, it will serve to expose the youngsters to a higher level of competition and thus speed up their development.
While that appears a good idea and therefore a good move, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages and, remembering that it was tried a few years ago, remembering that it was a failure, the JCA should think again before doing it.
The arguments behind the move are that the youngsters will benefit by playing against more experienced players, that by playing together they will get to know each other and will develop a team spirit that would serve them well when they come to represent Jamaica in the regional youth tournament.
Apart from the fact that team spirit is not as important in cricket as it is in football and that the important thing is the player's ability to bat, bowl and field, his knowledge of the game and his attitude towards the game and his development, without even looking at the cost of participating in the tournament, players in that age group are already representing the clubs and parishes, they are doing so not only in the Senior League but also in the Super League, and they are therefore already being exposed to cricket of a better quality.
In fact, one of the disadvantages of an Under-19 team in the Senior League is that those who are good enough to play in the Super League, those who are now playing in the Super League for the clubs and parishes, those who would be likely to play in the Super League would then be playing in a competition of less quality.
What is also important, however, is the effect it would have on the clubs and parishes and unless the JCA does not believe that the clubs and parishes are important in the growth and development of Jamaica's cricket, it should think about that.
NOT FAIR
Right now, a number of youngsters represent the club and parishes and it certainly would not be fair to the clubs and parishes, many of whom have developed these young players, if they are denied of their services - if the young players they have groomed are not available to them but for another team playing in the same competition.
On top of that, while they may win a match or two playing in the Senior League, a team of youngsters playing against more experienced players could be defeated so often and so badly that, as it was some years ago when they lost so many games and then turned up short for matches, that it would defeat the purpose of their participation.
Experience has taught that young players develop more playing with and against better and more experienced players than when playing together against better players. Beatings, regular beatings, have a way of demoralising people - including cricketers.
Before putting these young players in at the deep end, the JCA should look back at the previous experiment, it should look at the youngsters who have played for the clubs, and if it does, it will see that none of those youngsters who played on the youth team in the Senior Cup competition made it and that a number of the schoolboys, including some, like Michael Holding and Courtney Walsh who became really great, who played for the clubs and rubbed shoulders with experienced players fulfilled their potential and went on to represent Jamaica and the West Indies.
Cricket, it must be remembered, is not what it used to be, cricket in the clubs is not what it used to be, the players are getting younger and younger, and clubs and parishes are now represented by a number of schoolboys.
To take them away and put them in another team, therefore, would affect the club's ability to put out good teams, it would weaken the standard of the teams and at a time when cricket, Jamaica's cricket, is struggling to find sponsors, at a time when it needs a strong and exciting competition, that would be disastrous for the game.
Traditionally the best youngsters, those with talent, the desire and the dedication to be the best, represent the clubs in the top competition and in the interest of Jamaica's cricket, that is how it should remain.
