The UWI Regional Headquarters, Jamaica. Thursday, February 21, 2019—Sir Wes Hall fully supports the idea of cricket academies being the “finishing schools” for cricketers with talent and technique.

Speaking at a ceremony following The University of the West Indies (The UWI) Vice-Chancellor’s Cricket Match at the 3Ws Oval at the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados on February 17, the former fast bowler reminded the audience that it had always been the vision of his mentor, Sir Frank Worrell, that there should be “a synergistic approach between education and sport.”

Defining how he thought an academy should function, Sir Wes said, “You don’t go to an academy to become good, you have to be good to get into an academy.” It is like those finishing schools of decades ago in Europe where you attend to polish up on skills you already have, he said.

“You don’t learn to play forward or to play back in the academy. What you do learn is about the idea of rotating the strike, the idea of bowling in the six-metre zone, the idea of having a follow-through that is full of flow, then you get balance, then you get the explosion at the end. That is what you learn in an academy.”

But he had very strong feelings about the retention of West Indian culture and respect for its origins.

“I want them to have it staffed with people who understand cricket development in the West Indies and who know our culture. The same people that you are actually honouring today, they will be the ones that can go and have visits so the youngsters can have the opportunity to talk one-on-one with these great people.”

Sir Wes Hall was one of three West Indian cricketers whose outstanding global contributions were being honoured by The UWI. Sir Garfield Sobers and Sir Everton Weekes were also being celebrated as the Vice-Chancellor’s XI took on the visiting English team in a friendly preliminary match prior to the start of the current West Indies vs England One Day International (ODI) Series.

The English team demonstrated why they are ranked as the number one ODI team by the ICC, winning by 171 runs, with Joe Root and Jason Roy scoring centuries. The VC’s XI elected to field first and England scored 371. Despite the loss, the match was a friendly affair and the real highlight was the tribute to the West Indian “immortals.” 

More media highlights...

More about The UWI Vice-Chancellor’s Cricket Match
It was the brainchild of the late Sir Frank Worrell; who as a student counsellor and administrator at The UWI’s Mona campus in the mid-1960s, customarily organised matches between touring test teams and combined staff-student teams of The UWI. In so doing, he set a precedent for a noble tradition of engagement between sport and scholarship, which The UWI is proud to continue. The first match was staged at Sabina Park in 1996 against then visiting New Zealanders. This partnership between the University and CWI continues to support the development of The UWI’s cricket programme while paying tribute to former West Indies players who left an indelible mark on the game.
 

About The UWI
   For the past 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world. The UWI has evolved from a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally respected, regional university with near 50,000 students and four campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, and an Open Campus. As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Asia, and Africa such as the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development, the UWI-China Institute of Information Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)- UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies and the Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of Johannesburg (UJ). The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport. 

As the region’s premier research academy, The UWI’s foremost objective is driving the growth and development of the regional economy. Times Higher Education has ranked The UWI among the top 1,258 universities in world for 2019, and the 40 best universities in its Latin America Rankings for 2018, and was the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists. For more, visit www.uwi.edu.
 

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence
The UWI.)