February 15, 2021
By: Sulaiman Stom Koroma
The Chief Executive Officer for the Sierra Leone Cricket Association Francis Samura has informed A-Z press that because of the Covid-19, the 2020 sporting year was a massive disaster for the sport. He said that, even though they conducted some of the planned activities such as cricket courses, started the T-20 premier league which came to a halt because of the government band of all sporting activities in the country because of Covid-19, developed some cricket facilities in different schools in the country, they were on able to conduct their regular domestic competitions nor were they able to participate in any international tournaments because the competitions were differed to 2021 because of the global pandemic.
Even though the pandemic is still creating threats, Francis said that the 2021 season has started well for them, they have completed the rehabilitation of their secretariat, training for coaches, scores, and humpers which he says will be done by an expert from the United Kingdom.
He said that, during this period, the association has received over the ten-thousand-pound worth of assorted cricket equipment from Darent Talbot who is their cricket development partner, similarly so, they are also expecting some consignment of equipment from the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Francis Samura continued that, most of those tournaments which should have taken place in 2020 have now been scheduled to take place between April and October this year that is, the ICC men T-20, Under 19, Division 2, and the Women’s tournaments.
For years now, the Sierra Leone Cricket Association has been using the Sierra Leone Police field as their training grounds. This field is also used for football training, Police activities, and other sporting events.
The Association has been negotiating with the government for a place which will be purely for cricket activities. According to Francis, the government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry of Lands has allocated 22.9 acres of land at success. On this land he said, they will construct a high-performance cricket complex, training arenas, parking lots, indoor facilities, and other facilities that are of international standards. Similarly, he said that they are currently building two cricket grounds at Fourah Bay College for which there is work in progress.
Because of the five expected tournaments this year, the Sierra Leone Cricket Association has started trials for the different categories they will participate in. after the trials, the selected persons will form part of the team representing the country in these five different tournaments.
Crickets are one of the sporting disciplines in the country that has brought glory by bringing home trophies for different competitions they have participated in.
