by HAYDN GILL

IT WILL COST the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) $500 000 annually to operate the new Everton Weekes
Centre of Excellence at Kensington Oval.

The facility, which is to be opened to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Sir Everton's record five consecutive Test centuries, will be unveiled on the eve of the third Test match between West Indies and Australia on June 12.

The operational costs are divided among salaries and wages, consultancy fees, state-of-the art training hardware, medical insurance, equipment, nutritional supplements and other miscellaneous expenses.

Most of the funding for the first venture of its kind in Barbados will come from the BCA's lottery revenue which
is around $2 million annually and the expected $1.6 million a year from Government in the arrangement over the ownership/management of Kensington.

The BCA has been spared a significant chunk of expenditure for the running of the Everton Weekes Centre since the majority of the required facilities exist within the redeveloped Kensington that houses an international playing ground, pavilion complete with dressing rooms, practice nets, catering facilities, lecture rooms and administration offices.

Primary objective

In a discussion paper prepared by the BCA's chairman of its cricket development committee, Conde Riley, it was stated that the primary objective of the Everton Weekes Centre was to develop local cricketers, who will have the right mental and physical attributes to be successful at regional and international levels.

It is expected there will be an annual intake of 80 participants, featuring 20 elite players from each national age-group competition who will be picked by the senior and junior selection panels and will come under the guidance of a full-time staff headed by a director of coaching and two other coaches.

If players fall below the required standard, they can be removed by the selectors with the approval of a management committee that will comprise the BCA president, chairman of the cricket development committee, one other board member, the national head coach and the chief executive officer, who will be an exofficio member.

Among the responsibilities of the centre is the development of programmes in secondary schools for both boys and girls and the establishment of programmes for Division 1 clubs will be implemented by coaches who will be placed in each club.

The centre will have the latest in equipment and technology, including three video cameras, 20 video/DVD players, smart boards, projector screens, three tripods, two bowling machines and 300 bowling machine balls.

Analysis room

Among the rooms in the facility will be an analysis room that will include four work stations for computer analysis,
a medical room that contains medical equipment, massage table and three silo bins for recovery and a storage room
for clothing and equipment.

In the long-term, it is proposed that an indoor centre be added to the centre.

It will include four to six nets with a bowling machine attached and enhanced technology with mounted digital cameras at the start of each run-up, where the bowler stands, side-on and overhead.

There will also be flat screens at the back or side of the nets so players can automatically look at replays, a "Hawk Eye" radar detection unit and a biomechanics analysis unit.