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JCA T20 bashment cricket returns

Published:Thursday | May 16, 2019 | 12:22 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
Javelle Glenn (right), captain of Melbourne CC, demonstrates the proper way to hold a cricket bat to Billy Heaven, president of the Jamaica Cricket Association, during the launch of the Jamaica Cricket Association Jam T20 Bashment Cricket Competition at Sabina Park, yesterday.
Lionel Rookwood
Javelle Glenn (right), captain of Melbourne CC, demonstrates the proper way to hold a cricket bat to Billy Heaven, president of the Jamaica Cricket Association, during the launch of the Jamaica Cricket Association Jam T20 Bashment Cricket Competition at Sabina Park, yesterday.

Wilford ‘Billy’ Heaven, president of the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA), said that this year’s renewal of the JAM Twenty20 Bashment competition, will provide a lot of excitement for spectators.

The competition, which was last held in 2014, will see 23 teams competing in the championships, which will be held over five weeks. The tournament, which begins this weekend, will run alongside the Wray & Nephew/Social Development Commission (SDC) National Community T20 competition, which began a few weeks ago.

Speaking at yesterday’s launch, which was held at Sabina Park in Kingston, Heaven said that his organisation is upbeat about this year’s staging because a lot of the island’s top young cricketers will be on show in the competition.

BRINGING IT BACK

“This is big (one) for the JCA because it was missing for the last five years and we are bringing it back and so that is a plus for us,” said Heaven.

“We intend to work as best as possible with all the stakeholders to see if there is any possibility to strengthening the competition as we move along and to see how best we can rationalise T20 cricket in Jamaica,” Heaven said.

“The board took the decision to add this format not only to add another dimension, but to expose more players because when you look across the landscape, this format of the game will provide more opportunities for more players,” Heaven stated.

The JCA boss added that his organisation will be covering all the costs associated with this year’s competition, but he is confident that they will be able to find a major sponsor next year.

“We have some money in our coffers that can allow us to fund this competition but what we want to do this year is to use this year’s competition to sell it to our sponsors,” said Heaven.

“We believe that it is one format of the game that sponsors will become interested in because it is not high cost, but it is high value for money,” he said.

The teams will be divided into four groups with the top team from each group advancing to the semi-finals of the competition.