Cayman Prep and Cayman Academy Crowned Champions in Cayman National U-15 Cricket Tournament

After a month of competitive matches, the inaugural Cayman National Under-15 Cricket Tournament concluded with Cayman Prep winning the girls’ competition and the Cayman Academy boys taking the trophy in their matchup.

The Prep A girls team went into the final against St. Ignatius Catholic School undefeated in the 15-over-a-side tournament. St. Ignatius scored 89 all out in their allotted 15 overs and Prep responded with 90/5. The Player of the Tournament award went to Cassidy Coles from Cayman Prep & High School; she was also awarded for taking the most wickets in the tournament. Other prizes presented were:

• Player of the Match – Kacey Fagan (Cayman Prep & High School)

• Most Runs of the Tournament – Camilla Ebanks (Cayman Prep & High School)

• Best Wicketkeeper of the Tournament – Jasmine Fredericks (Clifton Hunter High School)

• Best Fielder of the Tournament – Jessica Dawson (Cayman Prep & High School)

“The A team have made so much progress this year as individuals as well as a team. I’m super proud of their positive approach to learning the more structured format of the game. They really listened to feedback each week and adapted their batting in particular to the game situation. I am sure that we can now continue to build on this for next season,” said Beth Lowen, coach for the Cayman Prep & High School teams. “As a cricket fan myself it’s great to see the growth in the girls/women’s game here in Cayman and I hope it’s the start of more development for the future. Thank you to those who made the league possible. We appreciate the time, efforts and financial support that has gone into making it a great opportunity for the girls to experience cricket.”

In the boys final between Cayman Academy and John Gray High School, Cayman Academy batted first and set a target of 140 runs for the John Gray boys who responded with 106/2 handing Cayman Academy the win by 33 runs. Wyatt Jalim from Cayman Academy was awarded Player of the Tournament, Player of the Match and had the most runs of the tournament. Tobias West of John Gray High School took the Most Wickets of the Tournament award, his teammate Nacir Noah Smith was Best Wicketkeeper of the Tournament while Clifton Hunter High School player Cameron Murray was awarded Best Fielder of the Tournament.

“Our boys have learned the importance of sportsmanship and resilience throughout this tournament. We started out losing our first two matches but the team rallied and we went on to win all of our games. They have definitely improved,” said Dexter Williams, Cayman Academy coach. “We thank God for what we were able to accomplish.”

At a recent rally, representatives from Cayman National presented the six participating schools – John Gray High School (boys), Cayman Academy (boys), Layman E. Scott Senior High School (boys), Cayman Prep & High School (boys and girls), Clifton Hunter High School (boys and girls) and St. Ignatius Catholic School (boys and girls) – with new cricket equipment to help enhance the schools’ programmes.

The equipment, valued at approximately $15k, consists of helmets, bats, gloves, pads, wickets, balls and a rolling cricket bag for each school, and is part of Cayman National’s overall investment of CI$50,000-plus in Cayman Cricket’s youth development programmes.

“Cayman National Bank is very pleased with our Cayman Cricket partnership. This collaboration is part of the Power to Make a Difference initiative, a corporate social responsibility programme run by our sister company Republic Bank in jurisdictions across the Caribbean. We believe that we were indeed able to make a difference in the participating schools’ cricket programmes with the equipment donations and also by giving more students access to the game,” said Karen Ebanks, Vice President Marketing & Communications. “Congratulations to the winning teams and all participating schools. We hope that they will continue to build upon the skills they learned during this tournament.”

“The competition this year has been a huge success; we saw growth in both the number of participants and the level of competition from the girls and boys. We hope to continue on this trajectory of increasing the youth’s interest in the game and their understanding of the sport through tournaments such as the Cayman National Under-15 which are fun and exciting but also teaches them the fundamentals,” said Dave Bernard Jr., Cayman Cricket Development Manager.