The second Obuasi Cricket festival ended at the KNUST Obuasi campus Cricket Oval on Saturday.
The six-day festival attracted over 540 children between ages of eight and 15 for both gender and were trained in bowling, batting, and fielding.
The climax was a mixed gender T20 game between Larry Hill Cricket Club and Van Etten Cricket Club.
Upshots of the festival included the formation of the Obuasi Cricket Academy with the motto ‘Let’s Chase the Dream.’
The event was graced by the President of Georgia Women’s Cricket Association, Petal Samuels.
Speaking to guests, the President of the newly formed Academy, Rhyda Ofori Amanfo, who doubles as the captain of Ghana’s senior women’s cricket national team, said series of activities have been lined up for the Obuasi club as well as some other regions.
“Obuasi has produced many players for the national team since cricket begun with the expatriates many years back. For the cricket festival’s success and the growing numbers, one can only hope the ‘dream’ is achieved by the newly formed Obuasi Cricket Academy.”
On the trial game, Larry Hill CC score 82/8 with youngster, Emmanuella Abdulai stunning veteran Eric Manu (Ajos) and Captain Prince Obeng with her magical bowling to set the pace for Van Etten, as she ended up with figures (3-0- 14-4).
Senior national team captain, Samson Awe Awiah, (*52-43) opened the batting for Van Etten CC in the second innings, together with captain Prince Jula (5-5) as they achieved 86/3 in 14.1 over and won by 7 wickets.
Emmanuella walked home with the Player of the Match accolade with her 4 wickets, giving away 14 runs in 3 overs.
The match which was played to offer the children an opportunity to learn achieved the purpose, as commentary on the game and incidents were explained throughout to the admiration of the beneficiaries.
Larry Hill and Oscar Van Etten are expatriates, and Project & Operations Managers at the Underground Mining Alliance (UMA) in Obuasi, were the main sponsors of the festival.
Other sponsors included the Obuasi Municipal Assembly, Ghana Mine Workers Union, and Toni-B Drinking Water.
The Obuasi Cricket Academy has Rhyda Ofori Amanfo as President, Janet Alaare as Vice, Secretary and Treasurer are Prince Obeng Manu and Ellen Otu Asante, while Head Coach, Physical Trainer, Head of scorers and Patrons are Williams Kanchoba, Isaac Quaye, Florence Owusu Ansah and John Williams, respectively
BY TIMES SPORTS REPORTER