Bailey’s Bay are making a financial investment in their top young cricketers with the announcement this week that seven club players will receive a combined $10,000 in funds to attend school in England and the United States.

Terryn Fray, Tre Manders and Delray Rawlins have made the leap to senior and junior international level, with Rawlins joining the first two in making his Cup Match debut this summer. The 16-year-old was presented with the President’s award worth $5,000 to assist with his schooling in England, while Jordan Smith, another promising youngster studying in England, was the recipient of the Vice-President’s award and received a cheque for $2,500. The five recipients of the Captain’s award — Fray, Manders, Nyhrobi Carmichael, Dage Minors and Jomei Bean-Lindo — were presented with cheques for $500.

In a statement, the club noted that the management of the club provided the funds “as a token of our commitment to the development of these young men as they pursue their sporting ambitions while furthering their education”.

Stephen Outerbridge, the Bay treasurer who took a similar path himself a few years ago when he studied in Cardiff, Wales, sees it as a good investment in not only the club’s players but in future leaders of the community.

“We understand the financial burden that trying to get an education in these times puts on the families,” Outerbridge said.

“We’re a community club and we just think it is important that the club takes the initiative to make sure that the young people in our community are well supported. These young men are playing with us and we want to push them to go on and do good things, not just on the field but also off the field.

“If we can get one or two to go on to be become pros, then we are doing our job. Delray Rawlins is in England and just started private school that has connections with Sussex. We have seen his immense talent at Cup Match and also seen it here at Bailey’s Bay, so we’re trying to give him the incentive to focus on his studies and cricket.”

Minors and Bean-Lindo have already returned to school in the US and both are also talented in other sports, with Minors a middle-distance runner and Bean-Lindo a footballer who recently represented Bermuda Under-17 in the Caribbean.

“The president [Elton Caisey] put forward the motion for this at the last AGM,” Outerbridge said. “I just had to try to work it together to make sure the finances were there to be able to get it done.”

Outerbridge who went to Cardiff Metropolitan school in 2007 along Jekon Edness, the Somerset Cup Match captain. It is the same school that Fray and Greg Maybury, the Somerset swing bowler, are attending.

“We tried to get something going last year and it didn’t work out, but there are so many options,” Outerbridge said. “Next year, hopefully we can look at a feeder club and start feeding our players to not just England, but even the West Indies and Australia.”

Fray and Manders have made valuable contributions already this summer, significantly in Cup Match where Fray was voted MVP after a match-winning century. He appreciates the effort by Bailey’s Bay to helping their youngsters.

“Bailey’s Bay have done a lot for me in the past and, for the other guys, I’m more than sure that they appreciate everything that Bailey’s Bay is doing for them and that they can use the money wisely for their education,” Fray said.

“Education is key and on behalf of the rest of the guys, I want to say thank you to Bailey’s Bay. It takes a lot of stress off our families — every little bit helps.”

Fray acknowledged that being coached in England has been of benefit to his game. “The wickets are a lot better than here in Bermuda, but there is a lot more movement,” he said. “The quality of cricket is at a different level, with how they approach their game from the Thursday before.”

He also painted a different picture of the British climate to what some Bermudians believe to be a wet and grey existence. “It is not as bad as everybody thinks,” Fray said. “I played half a season before I came back this summer and we had only one game rained out.

“I have two games left here, against Cleveland and Somerset, and hopefully we can win them both and get into third place in the tables. Our season is not over, even though we won’t be able to win the league.”