George Edward Ngegba, the Sierra Leone U19 and men’s captain, recently spoke to Emerging Cricket describing his hopes for the development of the country’s cricket infrastructure. The hopes of Negegba have started to become a reality following an agreement between the Fourah Bay College Administration and the Sierra Leone Cricket Association.
Through a collaboration between a number of the College’s committees and the SLCA a piece of land at the Fourah Bay College Junior Secondary School has been identified for cricket use and allocated to the Association. The facility’s full size ground and practice area, when completed, will also be made available for the use of the University of Sierra Leone.
The aim of the project is to revitalise university cricket in the country and to bring the sport back into the public’s eye. Alongside other recent development efforts in the country, the Association also donated cricket equipment to the Fourah Bay College, which will allow the higher standard of training sessions to be made available to more people.
The consultation meetings leading up to the land being secured saw the Sierra Leone Cricket Association CEO, Mr Francis Trevor Samura, the Deputy Minister of Sports at the Ministry of Sports Fourah Bay College Students’ Union Government Miss Linda Nyanje Ngewonya Bull and the Head of Games and Sports Fourah Bay College Mr Francis S. Alpha all discuss the potential of the project and how the new ground and equipment will not only benefit Fourah Bay College but the University of Sierra Leone and the country’s cricketing ecosystem as a whole.
During the 1960s University cricket thrived in the country, with Samura reflecting that ‘We want to revive that spirit. When the ban on sporting activities is lifted and cricket starts playing again, we are going to revive the inter-collegiate cricket tournament, selecting a university team that will compete in the international stage … With the land now available, the SLCA will have to sit down and work out modalities on how to construct a dedicated cricket ground … if we are looking forward to making cricket a culture among Sierra Leoneans in addition to making it becoming popular, bigger and better, we simply have to ensure that it goes back into schools and the universities since the game itself goes with education’.
The new facility, once developed, will also be made available to pupils and students.
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