One of Jamaica’s most legendary cricket clubs, the Melbourne Cricket Club on Thursday hosted the Foska Oats/Jamaica Tallawahs Breakfast, which serves to kick-start the season for the Jamaican franchise that plays in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T-20 competition.

Since the inception of the CPL, Foska Oats has been a sponsor the Tallawahs, and in recent times Melbourne Cricket Club has become host for this traditional breakfast.

Melbourne has become the site of the breakfast due to the partnership it has with Foska, which has led to the development of players who are current representatives at all levels of cricket.

In his address at the breakfast, president of Melbourne Cricket Club, Mark Neita hailed the partnership with the cricket-loving company Chas E Ramson, which distributes Foska Oats, and pointed to some successes that have come about as a result of the relationship.

“The Foska/Melbourne partnership has been significant to Melbourne Cricket Club and I want to say by extension, to Jamaica cricket.

“Melbourne Cricket Club this year has contributed six members of the female national team that was victorious in the recently concluded regional competition, and we are very happy about that. With the six members we also had two reserves,” Neita divulged.

In addition to the success of the women, Neita also highlighted the success of the boys at the youth level.

“In the recently selected Under-19 national squad, Melbourne had seven of the 13 players who were selected in that team. We also had in the Under-15 and Under-17 national team, four players from Melbourne who represented those national teams.”

Neita continued to drill down on the contribution of his club to cricket overall, highlighting the players who are members of the club and will represent various franchises in the CPL this year.

“At the CPL we have Nikita Miller, who is playing for the TT Knight Riders; Christopher Lamont, who is playing for St Lucia Stars; Javel Glenn, who incidentally has come through the Foska Oats Academy, and this year he is playing for the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots.

“Once we get to the Tallawahs we have Andre McCarthy, who we are very proud of and who has also represented West Indies ‘A’; we have Stephen Taylor, who also represents Melbourne; Oshane Thomas, who just came back from England with the West Indies ‘A’ team- and we are also very proud of him- and he, too, came through the Foska Oats Academy.

“The reason why I am highlighting this,” he continued, “is simply this, we could not achieve this level of success without sponsorship and support. The Foska Oats Cricket Camp and Cricket Academy has played a significant role in the development of our young cricketers — a significant role in the development of all things Melbourne — and we are very grateful for your support.”

The former Jamaica representative also suggested that his club was concerned with the development of the game as a whole, and not just their club as a single entity.

“What we do at Melbourne is not entirely just about developing Melbourne players, because we look for the best talent available and try and help them in their development. Last year we recommended Kirk McKenzie from Kingston Cricket Club to be a part of the Tallawahs training camp, and he was with the Tallawahs working with them. As long as we can see talent we will always try and see how we can build and help develop that talent. Melbourne is not about cricket at Melbourne, Melbourne is about cricket. Period,” he stated emphatically.

Clearly setting up the audience, like the great West Indies fast bowlers of the past did against the likes of the English and Australian batsmen at Sabina Park, Neita then bowled the perfect delivery that got everyone’s attention with an obvious but profound suggestion for the continued development of the Jamaica Tallawahs franchise.

“I think I can say without fear of contradiction that we probably have the most vibrant cricket academy here, it’s called the Foska Oats/Melbourne Cricket Academy, which we have every Saturday morning. It has produced several of our young players who are now representing Jamaica at various levels,” he said in his prelude.

The canny president then directed his next statement to the director of operations at Chas E Ramson, Christopher Ramson, who was sitting at the head table along with the management of the Jamaica Tallawahs.

“I think the time has come that the Jamaica Tallawahs have their own youth academy, and I think the time has come, based on this partnership, that that…partnership will start here at Melbourne Cricket Club. That commitment from you, if I can get it, will not be for the development of Melbourne cricketers, but it will be for the development of the young talent that will come through and will eventually represent the Tallawahs, the Jamaica Scorpions, and many other teams — not only locally but internationally.”

In furthering his argument, Neita suggested that such a move would serve to further enhance the Tallawahs brand.

“I think as a brand, one of the things that the Tallawahs needs to do is to be visible and to be constant. By aligning yourselves with an entity like this you will certainly be able to achieve that, as Foska Oats have seen how we can benefit from that also,” Neita urged.

Christopher Ramson immediately responded positively to the idea, having seen first-hand the benefits of academy training to the development of young cricketers at Melbourne.

“I think it’s great. It’s not just about Foska Oats, it’s about cricket, and the Tallawahs is a great partner so it makes sense. We have fed some of our Academy players into the Tallawahs, there are some that have made it even far as the West Indies cricket team. So if the Tallawahs want to do an academy, I think it’s great. We are all just one big family of cricket sponsors that want to breathe life into the sport of cricket, so I welcome it.”

It is left to be seen if the idea will become reality in the near future, but with the drive being shown by Neita, it is quite likely that the academy could be in place before the next edition of the CPL in 2019.