The Vice President of the Republic of Sierra Leone Alhaji Sam Sumana has assured the Sierra Leone Cricket Association (SLCA) executive and the U-19 players when they visited him yesterday at his office of government support at all times.
He said that over the past years cricketers have brought laurels to this nation and they are proud of such achievement. VP Sumana noted that they received little assistance which is not the making of the government but he his going to appeal to the Minister of Education Youth and Sports to start paying attention to the Cricket association.
Vice President also stated that the cricket association can serve as a unique example to other sporting disciplines for the manner in which they have been behaving themselves over the past years even with the little assistance from government.
The President of the Association Beresford Coker in his statement said they have been diplomats in the game as they had represented the country and brought home laurels.
He mentioned that for the past years they have done a lot but they not received any recognition from authorities.
A major problem affecting the association he said is the only cricket oval at Kingtom was banned since 2005 because it is not up to international standard and the International Cricket Council (ICC) said they should have at least four ovals in the country if they want to host international competitions.
He also disclosed that the Kingtom oval was the best in the 70s and 80s in West Africa and called on government to come onboard to upgrade the oval.
He disclosed that they were able to have support from the International Cricket Council (ICC) from the performances of the U-19 cricket team during the competition in Mozambique which they won and qualified to play in Zambia in the World Cup qualification
For this reason the International Cricket Council has given them a six day training facilities free of charge before the team will depart for Zambia and their first match during the competition will be on Sierra Leone’s Independence anniversary against Kenya.
President Coker also presented the winning trophy to the Vice President Alhaji Sam Sumana.
The Chairman for Sports Committee in Parliament Hon Nuru Deen Sankoh who was also present in his own contribution said he was happy for the cricket association for the laurels they have brought to this nation and appealed to them to be exercise patience as their demands will be met soon.
He also encouraged the U-19 players to do their best in their competition in Zambia so that they will take part in the World Cup cricket.
The U-19 delegation is expected to depart the shores of Sierra Leone over the weekend.
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