Bermuda High School for Girls? (BHS) gymnasium has become the venue for the Island?s first ever indoor cricket academy, Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) announced yesterday.

The gym has been fitted with state-of-the-art bowling machines and six retractable cricket lanes which will provide the Island?s cricketers with a much needed indoor training facility.

?We are delighted that BHS have allowed us to use their first class facility as a venue for the BCB?s initial indoor cricket academy,? said BCB executive director Neil Speight.

The Board remain optimistic that similar facilities will be installed at Clearwater and Whitney Middle Schools and also the new Berkeley Institute gymnasiums in the future.

Following painstaking assessment of all school gyms Island-wide by overseas experts, it was determined many had to be excluded as the first venue for the Board?s cricket academy, due primarily to unsuitable flooring.

BHS proved to be the most suitable with its central location, size and lack of roofing obstructions.

Speight noted: ?Cricket is a year-round sport and having somewhere to train indoors is essential if Bermuda is to continue progressing on the international cricket stage.?

The new indoor facility will allow the Island?s various national teams to practice rain, blow or shine and most importantly during the long winter months when inclement weather often makes training outdoors impossible, Speight said.

?This is a first for Bermuda and we (BCB) must thank BHS for their full cooperation throughout the installation,? the senior Board executive added.

BCB academy director, Wendell Smith, said an indoor facility such as the one at BHS had been ?sorely lacking? in Bermuda.

?I am so pleased that we will now have somewhere to train year round. Speaking from a youth perspective I know that it will be a great asset for our summer clinics when it will be a welcome break for the youngsters to get out of the sun and the heat of the day for some indoor training at the nets.?

Smith said the new facility would also benefit the Island?s first national women?s cricket team.

?We have seen a number of girls participating in our (BCB) Under-10 league and so it seems only fitting that the site (of the indoor cricket academy) be at BHS,? he noted.

?We feel that this will be yet another way of developing the participation and enjoyment of women?s cricket.

?And having this facility also provides significant opportunity to continually improve our junior national programmes, at Under-19, Under-15, Under-13 and Under-10 levels.?

Bermuda Cricket Board yesterday announced a 14-member Under-19 national squad that will compete in the Sir Garfield Sobers Tournament from July 7 to 29 in Barbados.: Oronde Bascome (captain), Malachi Jones (vice-captain), Rodney Trott, Chris Douglas, Maurico Bassett, Terryn Fray, Timori Tucker, Khiry Furbert, Keiron Trott, Daz Simons, Kyle Hodsoll, Dennico Hollis, Tre Govia, Damien Smith.