Gender equality will be addressed by Cricket West Indies during its tenure according to the vice-president Dr Kishore Shallow, who attended the Scotiabank Kiddies cricket prize-giving ceremony that was held at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba on Thursday.
Shallow said: "We have been quite biased in senior male cricket and we believe the only way to move forward is to bring equality to the situation in terms of our women cricketers. This is something we are addressing and we are not taking lightly."
Shallow was high in praise for Scotiabank which has made a significant investment into youth cricket. "You have touched the lives of 25,000 youths in T&T and a total of 230,000 in the region and we are very grateful for this. I also want to congratulate Azim (Azim Bassarath) my close comrade for yet another success as we all work together to take the cricket forward in this region.
The local director of the programme Kumar Rampat who was the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Territorial Development Officer up until last year said that the programme was a tremendous success. "I have been in charge of this programme for the last 20 years and it is time for me to move on but what I can tell you is that this year it was very good. Unequivocally, I lay claim that the Scotiabank Kiddy Cricket T&T Edition, is the only true educational developmental sporting initiative undertaken anywhere in the Caribbean. As is a well-known fact by now, this programme caters to the technical, social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual elements in the life of each participant. I am very happy with the results that this programme has brought forward, one of the shining examples being West Indies fast bowler Shannon Gabriel."
San Francique Presbyterian again came out on top as they were voted the winner of the Classroom element for the fifth consecutive year. Their coach Brandon Ramlal also copped the Top-Coordinator award for his service to the youths.