The finals of the St. Ann Parish Premiere League cricket competition, sponsored by Noranda Bauxite Company, will be played on Sunday October 21, at the Port Rhoades Sports Club in Discovery Bay.
In the meantime the St. Ann 2nd Division Cricket League also sponsored by Noranda has also reached its final stages.
As the 2018 competition winds down St. Ann Cricket Association President Keith Walford has paid tribute to Noranda Bauxitefor sponsoring the parish wide competitions which have involved 27 teams.
Walford notes that the company has made the Port Rhoades Club available as the headquarters for the parish team, while also accommodating “a vigorous season of Noranda community football and St. Ann Netball Association Open League competitions.”.
According to Walford some 1,000 competitors in cricket, football and netball will have participated in Noranda’s community sports programmes stretched across St. Ann this year.
The St. Ann Netball competition played among seven teams at Port Rhoades ended on September 9 with Eltham Racers defeating Bethel Town A team 32-26 to win the Noranda Trophy.
The 2018 Noranda Bauxite Football trophy went to Hopewell FC, based in Discovery Bay.
The curtain came down on the football competition at the Port Rhoades Club on Thursday September 27 when Hopewell, championed by goals from skipper Andrew Matthews, and forwards Dwayne Duncan and Garfield Stewart, beat Links of Alexandria 3-0 to secure the Noranda Cup.
To get to the finals Hopewell defeated Farm Town FC 2-1, after Farm Town had beaten a vauntedMount Pleasant Under-21 team 2-0 in the run up to the semi-finals.
The community summer season was barely over before the Noranda employees took to the field for the company’s Inter Departmental Football competition played Tuesdays, Wednesdays andThursdays.
The Port Rhoades Sports Club remains ahub of activity as it also positions itself for a return as an international cricket venue with favourable comments coming from Jamaica Cricket Association PresidentWilliam ‘Billy’ Heaven, St. Ann President Keith Walford, National Coach Junior Bennett, and Sports Development Agency Co-ordinator Constantine Cunningham.
Noranda’s Public Relations Superintendent Kent Skyers is pushing for this recognition, pointing to the history of the Club as an international ground having already hosted Jamaica national matches and West Indian star players, and the having capacity to accommodate thousands for events such as the SDC national cricket finals on August 27, and the National Push Cart Derby crowds of the 1970sand ‘80s.
