NIKITA Miller, director of 4Milla Academy, says developing female cricketers is a central objective for his team of coaches as the third staging of the academy’s summer camp began on Monday.

“The target is to get more females on board,” Miller told the Jamaica Observer after the launch of the 2024 camp at Melbourne Cricket Club on July 11.

“While [Jamaica’s] senior [women’s] team has done well, I don’t think at the club level the women’s game is being pushed a lot — and there aren’t a lot of clubs with women’s teams. So, as an academy, we are trying to have more young girls taking part; we want to develop these girls who can transition further down the road,” he added.

Miller, a former West Indies and Jamaica left-arm spin bowler, noted that last year there were no girls at the camp but this year he expects at least two, based on commitments from parents and guardians.

Miller debuted for Jamaica in 2004 and retired from professional cricket in 2019.

He claimed 538 wickets in 100 first class outings at an impressive average of 16.31. He accumulated 2,296 first class runs at 17.52.

He played 50 One-Day Internationals, nine Twenty20 matches, and one Test for West Indies before becoming a coach.

He said former national women’s player Rita Scott is a part of the summer camp’s coaching set-up, as well as former West Indies wicketkeeper/batsman Carlton Baugh, and Derval Ellis. Miller said support will also come from former West Indies batsman and ex-Jamaica senior team coach, Robert Samuels.

Miller promised a holistic approach to the camp, which is to include fun activities as well as lessons about the fundamentals of cricket as a sport.

“The idea of a camp is to develop the whole cricketer; to offer knowledge about the rudiments of the game, umpire signals, field positions and placings, and, of course, batting, bowling and fielding,” he said while emphasising the importance of teaching specific drills and then giving the children the opportunity to execute them in a practical setting.

“We try to make sure that every participant in our camp can leave with the knowledge, not only of batting, bowling and fielding, but also know about the rules of the game and can have a basic understanding of the field positions, and also a basic knowledge of captaincy,” Miller told the Observer.

West Indies Twenty20 Captain Rovman Powell, who addressed the youngsters during the camp’s launch, alluded to his modest upbringing while telling participants that sports can compete with any traditional profession.

Powell added: “It is also at the grass roots programme [level] that kids forge their own cricketing identity. When I say ‘forge their cricketing identity’ I simply mean, which one of the kids want to be a batsman, which one wants to be an all-rounder, which one wants to be a bowler. At the grass roots programme [level] is where the kids actually forge their identity and it is also where coaches will pick up on those little talents… who would want to be a wicketkeeper.”

The two-week camp, to be hosted at Melbourne, is scheduled to end August 2. Miss Birdie and Purewater are the sponsors.