Oh, No, President Cameron!

exempts women from understanding the sport of cricket.

3. Mr Cameron seems misinformed about the role of the PE teacher in developing cricketers. PE teachers teach the fundamentals of the game, the basic tenets of batting, fielding and bowling, but the 40 minutes to one hour afforded to PE classes each week does not lend itself to developing cricketers, footballers, or track stars, for that matter. If a child wishes to become advanced in a specific sport, this is typically done outside of PE. If Mr Cameron canvasses most of his cricketers, he will find that they learned and developed interest in the sport through the home and the community. That is why schools that excel in sports have specific coaches assigned to specific sports. Parents, clubs, and school spor ts programmes typically explore specialised activities. It star ts, and grows, in the home and the community and through specialised coaching, not necessarily in a PE class.

I suppose our esteemed CWI president would be surprised to learn that Chris Gayle was taught the game of cricket by a female PE teacher at Rollington Town Primary. Chris Gayle said his “first proper cricket coach” was “the fantastic Miss Hamilton”, who he describes as a “seriously fast bowler”. Miss Hamilton was such a great influence on Chris Gayle’s career that he included her in his biography.

But what Mr Cameron has presented is the opportunity for us to have a discussion around how we can increase participation and interest in cricket at the junior level. I am not convinced that it is the PE teacher that creates the appetite for participation in sports. It has more to do with the home. Irrespective of Chris Gayle’s teacher, he grew up beside Kensington and had an older brother, who played cricket. The love for, and interest in cricket among children and teens grows through increased community and home exposure to cricket.