Savaii Dominates in Samoa
Rain played havoc on the final day of the 2011 Le Vai Teuila Festival Club Cricket Championships at the Tuanaimato Garden Ovals in Apia.
In stop-start conditions two critical matches were slated with teams targeting a top two finish. Both the Iva White Lions in the Women's competition and Sili Tanifa in the Men's competition had secured the 2011 Le Vai Trophy after both teams showed strong performances on the previous day's play.
Savaii Cricket continues to lead the way in terms of cricket development in Samoa, after running a successful 16 team competition over 4 districts in 2010 and taking the minor placing in the 2010 Teuila Festival Championships, the Savaii teams have come back to take glory in both the Mens and Womens Championship Trophies in 2011.
SICA President Seb Kohlhase put the success of the bigger island down to one factor;
"The Savaii villages have supported every umpire and coaching course we have requested to roll out, and as a result they have good knowledge of the game. Their success shows, smart cricketers make successful teams and I encourage our Upolu villages and clubs to contact SICA to run these free educational programs."
In the Women's match the young Leauva'a Sea Eagles took on the Stars. With an innings interrupted by rain, the Stars batted strongly in the trying conditions to finish with a total of 75 runs off their 20 overs. The Sea Eagles started slowly in reply thanks to some very tight bowling from the Stars. This continued throughout the innings and despite a valiant effort from the inexperienced Sea Eagles, their chase came up only 10 runs short.
With bad weather surrounding the Men's match between the Wanderers and Salelavalu ended in a draw.
The weather did not seem to dampen the cricketing spirits of the local school children from Ah Mu Academy who took part in the junior cricket development Le Vai KirriKriket program. The children were enthralled by cricketing stories from a number of Samoa's national cricket players and were then treated to some cricketing skills in an enjoyable Le Vai KirriKriket clinic.
Special thanks goes to Reverend Oteta of Sili and reverend Tonu of Iva who have been avid supporters of the cricket program and have welcomed SICA development officers to stay with their families whilst rolling out the programs. Yours success has not been by accident but a result of the dedication and consistent training of your players.
When asked why the Sili players were so successful in cricket national player Pritchard Pritchard responded "we all grew up with Kirrikitti together and it is almost the same rules as English cricket, even if we didn?t have proper bats we trained hard with our kirrikitti gear and that training turned us into a strong English cricket team."
His advice to young cricketers was "Just enjoy cricket and train hard."
This exciting national event was made possible by the hard work of our volunteers and our faithful sponsors, SICA would like to officially thank its fantastic volunteers and sponsors for their support and contributions for the 2011 Le Vai Teuila Festival Club Cricket Championships: Le Vai, Samoa Red Cross, Ah Liki, BOC, and Mega Saver.