Tony Becca, Contributor

ONCE UPON a time, in fact up until a few years ago when players like Gareth Breese, Carlton Baugh Jr. and Donovan Pagon represented the West Indies, Wolmer's was known across the length and breadth of this country as the cricket school of Jamaica.

Apart from winning many schoolboy titles, Wolmer's, starting from R.K. Nunes, the first West Indies captain back in 1928, has produced a host of Jamaica representatives in Ivan Barrow, Allan Rae, Franz Alexander, Jackie Hendriks, Reggie Scarlett, Maurice Foster, Jeffrey Dujon, plus Breese, Baugh and Pagon.

It has produced a number of West Indies cricketers, including, in Nunes, Barrow, Alexander, Hendriks, Dujon and Baugh, six wicketkeepers.

Today, however, that is no longer so. Today the cricket school of Jamaica is St Elizabeth Technical, winners of the Grace Headley Cup for rural schools for 21 years, winners of the all-island title for 15 years and producers of a number of Jamaica and West Indies players.

STETHS legacy

Under the guidance of Dr Donovan Bennett for many, many years, and coached by Junior Bennett, current national coach, for a number of years, STETHS has produced, in recent times, national players such as batsmen Delroy Morgan, Nigel Kennedy, Tony Powell and Shawn Findlay. Plus Richard Staple after moving from Munro College, wicketkeeper Shane Ford, left-arm pace bowler Kenneth McLeod and Nikita Miller - the left-arm spinner who has also represented the West Indies 'A' team.

More importantly, however, STETHS has produced three West Indies players in batsman Brenton Parchment and fast bowlers Daren Powell and Jerome Taylor.

On top of that, in the regional match now being played at Sabina Park between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago for the Carib Beer Challenge Trophy, with Parchment opening the innings, with Taylor and Powell opening the bowling, and with Miller the top spin bowler in the Jamaica team, STETHS are well represented.

With STETHS located in the parish of St Elizabeth, however, that is not surprising - and especially so with what is happening in the parish and more so in South St. Elizabeth.

Tops in 'St Bess'

Cricket is king in St Elizabeth, it is particularly so in South St Elizabeth, and the sons of St Elizabeth who represented Jamaica but did not attend STETHS included George Powell, Matthew Sinclair, Donovan Sinclair, Shane Powell and Ricardo Powell - the hard-hitting batsman and brilliant fielder who went on to represent the West Indies.

Something good is happening in St Elizabeth and although they will hardly tell you that it is in the water, those born and bred in places like Comma Pen, Chocolate Hole, Junction, Bull Savannah and Ballards Valley probably will tell you that it is in the food and particularly in their nice, juicy water melons.

To me, however, it is simply because they love the game - because they play the game and because those who do not play the game attend the matches. They enjoy themselves because they cheer on those who play the game and in doing so, encourage those who play the game.