Regional Headquarters, Jamaica. October 29, 2018: After a thrilling and consistent performance in the Regional Super 50 tournament, the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) Marooners emerged as winners.
The CCC Marooners faced the Guyana Jaguars confidently in the finals of the tournament on Sunday 28 October, 2018 at Kensington Oval in Barbados. The stellar teamwork and disciplined bowling of the CCC Marooners was enough to defeat the 204 run target set by the Guyana Jaguars. The outstanding leadership of captain, Carlos Brathwaite and top performances of batsmen Kyle Corbin and Kjorn Ottley, and bowler Jermaine Levy were critical to the team’s success in this final.
The CCC cricket programme continues to play a major role in West Indies Cricket. Celebrating 11 years since its entry into the regional first class competition, the programme is managed by The University of the West Indies (The UWI), enabling young talented players in the region to hone their cricketing skills while pursuing tertiary education.
Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, who negotiated the inclusion of the CCC in the regional first class competition, during his time as Principal of The UWI Cave Hill Campus, notes that the CCC programme is critical in creating a pathway for student cricketers and expanding a talent pool of “thinking cricketers” for the West Indies selectors. Commenting on the team’s performance in the Regional Super 50 final, Vice-Chancellor Beckles said “Today our students have inspired the cricket world of the Caribbean and beyond, in both the execution of their victory and in the explicit display of high sporting values and principles. At the outset I asked of them to recognize they will be playing for a purpose and cause much bigger than themselves or their university – the resurrection of West Indies cricket performance culture. They gave me an assurance of agreement and did not depart from their commitment. The evidence is now clear; they constitute the heartland of the West Indies cricket academy. I extend congratulations to Captain Brathwaite and his brilliant boys, as well as the magnificent management and coaching team. The University of the West Indies today declared the CCC team heroes of our community and the region we serve. Thank you for inspiring us all.”
The CCC Marooners team, coached by Floyd Reifer, has been on an upward trajectory in first class regional cricket. It reached its first regional four-day final in 2011 against Jamaica and in 2013, successfully reached their first regional 50-over final against the Windward Islands. The Super 50 performance is demonstrative of the competitiveness, form and development of its students at first class level.
The programme has come at a significant investment for The UWI, but results such as this one is testament to its success. The University remains committed to its further enhancement in order to make an even greater impact on West Indies cricket. Since its introduction to regional first class cricket in 2007, CCC has made a meaningful impact within the region. Several players that have graduated from the programme have gone on to make valuable contributions to territorial as well as West Indies A and Senior teams.
The programme now falls under The UWI’s recently launched Faculty of Sport. The Faculty continues to pursue its mandate to contribute to the development of the region through education, research and innovation. The twinning of sports science and cricket skills has paid substantial dividends. The CCC programme has produced over 32 cricketers over a 10-year span who have gone on to represent and even captain franchises and West Indies teams.
More about The UWI Faculty of Sport
Launched in 2017, the UWI Faculty of Sport integrates teaching and research, professional development, community partnerships, and co- and extra-curricular student sport through three main units: Professional Programmes, Outreach & Projects Unit, Co-curricular & Intramural-Activity Unit and the Academic Programme & Activity Unit. The faculty is made up of four Academies of Sport: Cave Hill Academy of Sport, Open Campus Academy of Sport, Mona Academy of Sport and St Augustine Academy of Sport. For more information visit www.uwi.edu/sport
The first initiative of the Faculty of Sport/ UWI HPC was “Pace Like Fire”. The programme traversed six islands of the Caribbean to identify the fastest bowlers between the ages of 16-22 (male and female) with raw pace. 10 males and 5 females will be invited to enroll in the HPC for two years to develop their fast bowling gifts and released into regional franchises and West Indies teams.
The Faculty of Sport is also working with Cricket West Indies to offer accredited coaching qualifications to mitigate the reliance on English Cricket Board and Australian Cricket Board coaching programmes. In addition, 2019 will see the introduction of the first pitch preparation and turf maintenance certificate courses. The state of pitches in the Caribbean is widely regarded as a major challenge to the development of our players in the region.
The UWI High Performance Centre
The UWI relaunched the Sagicor UWI High Performance Centre in November 2017. With the establishment of the first sports science labs in the region and the modern, state of the art facilities, qualified coaching and advanced video analysis technology that currently exist at 3Ws Oval, it was only natural that The UWI would once again provide the region’s youth with a cricket academy to hone their skills both on and off the field.
About The UWI
For the past 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region. In 2018, The UWI celebrates its evolution from 1948 as a university college in Jamaica with 33 medical students to an internationally respected regional university with near 50,000 students. Today, The UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and an Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport. Its priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. The UWI has been a pivotal force in every aspect of Caribbean development; residing at the centre of all efforts to improve the well-being of our people. As the regional institution commemorates its 70th anniversary milestone, it will celebrate its students, faculty, administrators, alumni, governments, and partners in the public and private sector. The anniversary commemoration will focus on reflection as well as projection for the future with an emphasis on social justice and the economic transformation of the region. Website: www.uwi.edu and www.uwi.edu/70 . (Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)
