Inaugural 4Milla Academy Cricket Summer Camp gears for the long haul
WITH the inaugural 4Milla Academy Cricket Summer Camp set to be staged next month at Melbourne Cricket Club, Director Nikita Miller says the plan is to make it an annual event.
The camp, scheduled for July 11-22, is an extension of the 4Milla Academy, which was launched last November. The target group is players aged five to 18.
“We want this to be a calendar event for young cricketers… to develop the whole player by having activities that will address everything surrounding cricket, on and off the field,” the former Jamaica and West Indies spin bowler said.
Miller said the idea of the camp came from the reviews he received about the academy.
“It’s because of the positive feedback I have received from the parents and other onlookers why I decided that I needed to put on this summer camp.
“The fact that players are having fun while learning the basics of the game and are wanting to return weekly, according to the parents, say that we at 4Milla are doing something good for the sport of cricket. So a yearly camp is necessary to continue the good work,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
He said the camp will be open Monday to Thursday in week one and Monday to Friday for the second and final week.
Participants can opt to pay $3,500 daily, $12,000 weekly, or $24,000 in full. The full fee will be discounted to $18,000 per person for those with multiple participants.
The academy director said the camp will open 9:00 am, with a launch on July 11, and end with a prize-giving ceremony on July 22.
Miller has served as a member of the Trinbago Knight Riders coaching staff in the Caribbean Premier League and has worked with Jamaica Scorpions in the regional four-day and 50-over competitions.
He first played for Jamaica in 2004 and retired from professional cricket in 2019.
A crafty left-arm finger spinner in his day, Miller claimed 511 wickets in 91 regional four-day matches at an impressive average of 15.37. His wicket haul is the highest in the modern era — 1966 and onwards — of regional four-day cricket.
Overall, he took 538 wickets in 100 first-class outings at 16.31. A determined lower-order batsman, he accumulated 2,296 first-class runs at 17.52.
He featured in 50 One-Day International matches, capturing 45 wickets, and took 11 wickets in nine Twenty20 Internationals. He went wicketless in his lone Test for West Indies — against touring Bangladesh in 2009 — when a number of elite players went on strike.
— Sanjay Myers