The revival/rebuilding process of cricket in Fiji received a boost this week with the arrival of the Fiji Cricket Association's first Operations Manager Mr Robin Carr.

After the setbacks brought on by the chaos of the sudden forced entry into the political scene by George Speight and his band of men, Fiji Cricket is back on course.

The past couple of months has seen the continuation of the grass roots work being carried out by the development officers, the upgrading of facilities and the further development of level 1 coaches.

In November we saw the conducting of level 1 coaching courses in the three geographical centres of Labasa - which catered for the Northern Division of Fiji, Suva for the Central Division and Lautoka for the Western Division. The courses were conducted by Level 3 badge holder Carl Sharpe from Dubbo, Australia, who is the Association's director of coaching education. The response from course participants, mainly teachers and final year teaching students was very encouraging and these courses should go a long way towards spreading the gospel of cricket in Fiji.

The development programme of the three development officers continued during November with considerable progress as schools wind down for the end of year breaks.

The development and upgrading of facilities continued in earnest in Fiji with the completion of practice nets and an artificial wicket at the Namaka Public school in Nadi. Fiji Cricket is grateful to the school who have taken the decision to make these grounds specifically dedicated to cricket - which is a first for Fiji where school grounds are shared with Soccer and Rugby.

Over the next few months, five new artificial wickets will be installed at strategic points around cricket centres in Fiji and will go a long way to further improving the state of cricket in Fiji.

With more wickets in place Fiji will be in good stead to host the East Asia Pacific Region Under 19 tournament in November 2001 as has been proposed by the Regions Development Officer Mathew Kennedy. The new facilities will also assist in the hosting of the South Pacific Games in Suva in 2003.

The new ICC East Asia Pacific Region Development Officer Mathew Kennedy visits Fiji in the coming week with the objectives of the visit to be familiarisation of the cricket scene in Fiji and to see how the ICC Development Programme can continue to further develop Cricket in Fiji. The Under 19 tournament as well as the upcoming Pasifica tournament in Auckland in February 2001 could also be on Mathew's agenda whilst in Fiji.

The Fiji Cricket Association's first Operations Manager Mr Robin Carr started work this week in Suva taking over the reins of administration of cricket in Fiji on a day to day basis from the FCA Board of Control. Robin hails from Marlborough in New Zealand, and apart from experience in the cricket scene in New Zealand, Robin also played a lot of cricket in Fiji in the 1970s and is familiar with the enormous task ahead of him.

Among Robin's first tasks is to finalise arrangements for Fiji's participation at the Pasifica Championships. Fiji's participation at the Pasifica championships will also hinge on the New Zealand Governments current ban on all sporting contacts with Fiji.

Fiji's current squad of 18 preparing for the Pasifica championship will be reduced to 13 over the next month leading up to the championship. Fiji's technical officials Neil Maxwell and Tim Adnerson will have another session with the squad in late December or early January. Fiji is also looking at the opportunity of playing a series of one day matches in Auckland after the Pasifica championships or alternatively if an appropriate sponsor can be found, a Fiji PNG one day series in Auckland.

In summary cricket in Fiji is on the verge of bigger and better things with Robin Carr on board and the 2000/2001 senior cricket season underway.

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