Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) yesterday lashed out at promising teenage bowler Jacobi Robinson for his decision to abort studies at the University of Port Elizabeth International Cricket Academy in South Africa.

Robinson told The Royal Gazette earlier this week he had injured himself during a net practice session and was preparing to leave the academy and return to Bermuda.

However, that decision has apparently incensed top officials at the BCB who, in a written press release yesterday, said Robinson could be asked to compensate the Board for expenses if he went ahead with his plan to return home early.

“It is the BCB's opinion that Jacobi not only owes it to himself to stay and complete the course, as per advice of the experts, but also owes it to Bermuda to make a good showing and not damage the good reputation that Bermuda has with the academy and potentially jeopardise future applicants,” read the Board statement.

“The BCB additionally wish to point out that if Jacobi returns not only will he be doing himself, his family, the BCB and Bermuda a grave disservice, he will also be squandering a huge investment of time and money that could have been made available to another individual young player.

“The BCB expects that if Jacobi chooses unilaterally to leave the academy that he should be held accountable on his return.”

The Board said they considered a trip to the prestigious academy “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for any junior cricketer”.

“The BCB feel privileged that the academy consented after considerable lobbying to extend the space available for two of Bermuda's promising young players,” continued the statement.

“This opportunity has been provided at considerable cost. As far as the BCB is aware, there is no good reason for Jacobi to return home to Bermuda and many important reasons for him to stay and work hard on his rehabilitation and remedial programme diagnosed by experts at the academy.”

According to the release, BCB officials have been monitoring Robinson's condition and have held “extensive” consultations with academy director, Dr.Richard Stretch.

Dr.Stretch is considered an expert in bio-mechanics who has provided guidance to the West Indies Cricket Board as well as being invited by former West Indian fast bowler Kenny Benjamin, currently the team's fast bowling coach, to consult and work with the players during their recent visit to Port Elizabeth.

Accoding to the Board, Dr. Stretch stated: “If I may give my opinion, I believe that if he (Robinson) returns home nothing will change and that he will always have the problem (mixed-action) and his cricket will possibly be curtailed.

“If he remains and he responds to the treatment and rehabilitation, then there is a good chance that he will recover and be able to continue with his cricket and bowl pain-free. The amount of work required to remodel a bowling action is both timely and essential to prevent further injury.”

Should Robinson decide to remain on campus he could still focus on other parts of the programme which place emphasis on batting, nutrition, mental skills, vision training, tours of local interests and also various lectures on the history of cricket and personality profiling.

Robinson's injury was first detected during a musculo-skeletal test. It is said to be a “pre-existing” injury that had never been “disclosed” to either the BCB or local physiotherapists during appointments funded by the BCB.

Dr.Stretch's medical report on Robinson strongly indicated the injury was mostly likely a result of the player's bowling technique, as he presently has what is commonly referred to as “mixed action”, an expression used to explain a biomechanical imbalance in a bowler's delivery of the ball which places increased levels of stress on the lower back.

Robinson, who cited escalating medical costs as his reason to return home early, is currently undergoing physiotherapy, stretching, lower back strengthening in addition to receiving technical advice on how to modify his bowling action.

“I think it is best to return home because at the moment all I am allowed to do in the nets is walk through my action (bowling), and that is really frustrating. It is also very costly to have my back repeatedly scanned. All my money is being spent on therapy,” Robinson told The Royal Gazette earlier this week.