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As we continue to feature community cricket's best, we turn our attention to Nathaniel 'Natty' Williams a 13-year veteran plying his trade for the Waltham PYC Cricket team in the SDC 20/20 Community Cricket Competition.
Williams, who grew up in the community of Barkerswood in Islington St Mary, has learnt from his life experiences and as such works hard and plays hard. According to Williams, when he was younger in his district, he would participate against other districts in cricket competitions.
After moving from St Mary to Kingston after his brother started a block factory business, Natty quickly found a field at Waltham Park where he, along with other community members, would play the game for fun. They created the Waltham Park cricket team with the assistance of a police officer and an elder in the community. Since then, the team has been playing together.
"We train together, party together and we really care for each other's welfare.
"When you see some of our teammates leave the community to live elsewhere and come back to play, it speaks volumes to the dedication and the love for the team."
"The older team members help to nurture the younger talents in the team and with that there will always be continuity."
When asked about the SDC National 20/20 Community Cricket Competition Williams was proud of his team's achievement. Waltham will be playing for third runner-up.
"A lot teams have never made it this far and I can proudly say we have always made the top 8 teams."
He further stated that he believes it was a lack of communication why the team are not playing for the ultimate prize, but he continues to credit their good work and motivation.
"Next year, we will work as hard to be in the finals and also grow as a team. We would like sponsors to come on board to assist us in getting proper equipment and uniforms for the players." Junior Bennett is in charge of the young cricketers. The Kingston Wharves Under-15 Cricket Competition 2011 will conclude this weekend with the end of a three-day cricket camp tomorrow at Sabina Park.
Thirty of the best cricketers who competed in the all-island competition are in the process of intense training, which began on Thursday. Michael Frew of Westmoreland, who was the man of the match in the final between Westmoreland and St Andrew, heads the list of campers. Other campers include Bradley Jacks, Jason Tapper, Orande Pearson and Saad Ahmed. Eleven of the 14 parishes are represented at the camp.
In addition to theory and practical sessions on the game of cricket, the campers have been exposed to special presentations on drugs in sport, media training, personal etiquette, umpiring decisions and a tour of the Kingston Wharf where a career talk will be given today. Christopher Taylor, who was recently appointed to the regional panel, will speak on umpiring while Wavel Hinds is also scheduled to make a presentation to the campers.
The camp is led by national coach Junior Bennett along with umpire Milton Thomas, national U15 coach Terrence Corke and the most successful primary school coach Grantley Reid out of Westmoreland.
A 40-over cricket match will be played tomorrow, the final day which will be used to test the areas covered during the camp.
