Providence Stadium, Guyana: Xaviee Smith can check one item off his bucket list as one of his many cricketing dreams was fulfilled yesterday at Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
The 13-year old joined in the coin toss for the fifth and final Digicel Series ODI between West Indies and Pakistan – standing next to Captains, Darren Sammy and Shahid Afridi, as Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat.
This cricket enthusiast, who cites Chris Gayle as his favourite player, started playing cricket at the tender age of three and is a member of the Demerara Cricket Club – which boasts of former club players such as Lance Gibbs, Clive Lloyd, Roy Fredericks and Mark Harper.
He hopes to one day make the same impact on West Indies cricket as these cricket legends have.
Smith’s passion for the game is shared by his father and brother who also play. He is a student at Christ Church Secondary School where he serves as vice-captain of the school’s cricket team and says that while he is an all-rounder, he is known best for his solid batting skills.
“I eat, sleep and dream cricket!” the youngster exclaimed excitedly. “I love cricket, I love the West Indies! I want to be a great West Indian cricketer! I am so happy that Digicel has given me this chance to do the coin toss. This is one of my many cricketing dreams come true. Thank you Digicel!”
“Xaviee’s enthusiasm is infectious,” said Karl Donnelly, Digicel Group Head of Sponsorship. “It is so heartening to see the passion that youngsters around the region still exhibit for the game, and we at Digicel want to encourage and fuel that zeal so that the game of cricket will continue to unite the people of the Caribbean for generations to come.
“At Digicel, we really believe that supporting the game at grassroots level is vital in ensuring that the future of West Indies cricket burns brightly – so much so that our Grassroots Cricket Training Programme will see over 2600 youth cricketers from all across the Caribbean receive specialised coaching from over 180 WICB accredited coaches this year alone,” continued Donnelly.
The WICB Digicel Grassroots Cricket Programme caters to youth cricketers from the age of 12 to 17 and is being hosted in Trinidad & Tobago, BVI, Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Kitts & Nevis, Barbados, St, Lucia, Grenada, Dominica, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Jamaica and Guyana from April to December 2011.
