Sports minister Olivia Grange will be the main speaker at the ground-breaking and sign-unveiling ceremony for the Stafanie Taylor Oval at Eltham High School in St Catherine on Wednesday, November 1, 2017.
The Stafanie Taylor Oval is being built in honour of Eltham High’s most famous alumni and the current captain of the West Indies Women’s Cricket team.
Playing on the Eltham High School Grace Shield Cricket team, a privilege usually reserved for boys, Taylor went on to be selected for the West Indies Women’s team at the early age of 17.
Taylor is also the only woman from the region to have led a sports team to a world title, accomplishing that feat when the West Indies emerged champions at the ICC World T/20 tournament in 2016.
She was voted International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricketer of the year in 2011, 2014 and 2015, and at age 22, she became the first player, either male or female, to hold the number one position in ICC rankings for both batting and bowling at the same time in international limited overs cricket.
“I am delighted that my country, and more specifically my alma mater, has seen it fit to honour me in this way. Eltham is where I truly learnt the game and began to take it seriously. My wish is that all students at Eltham, and throughout all of Jamaica, will be motivated by the success I have achieved in my short stint thus far on the world stage. My dream is to see all our leading sports personality serve as role models to our children and adults alike,” Taylor, who will be present for the ceremony, said.
The Stafanie Taylor Oval is being constructed by the Sports Development Foundation in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport. It is one of the Jamaica 55 Legacy Projects.