Summer is here and normally cricket is over for the youngsters, but not this year.

This year the Bermuda Cricket Board has launched a XL Super Summer Under-14 series, which runs every Monday for the next four weeks.

This league has been put in place to get young cricketers playing more, and to help prepare the national under-14s for their England tour that is coming up in the middle of August.

When I came onto the Board one of the questions I had was, why don’t we have a summer league?

I believed that if we introduced it people would gravitate to it.

In previous years the Board had talked about it, and some coaches did not think it would work because a lot of children travel in the summer. However, what about thing the children that don’t travel and want to play cricket. Why stifle their development?

After many meetings and discussions on the best way forward the youth development committee came up with the idea of launching a summer league. The league consists of four zones, — East, East Central, West Central and West.

Each team will play each other once, and then there will be a play-offs, and the grand finale will be an All-Star game, with teams based on their placing from the league.

So, whoever finished first will pair up with the team who finishes last, hopefully this will make for a balanced more entertaining All-Star game.

This past Monday saw the first round of games being played, and I was extremely impressed by the skill level of some of the young cricketers in this age bracket.

All around Bermuda you hear people saying cricket is dead, finished, but I am here to tell you that cricket is still very much alive, especially with the talent that I saw on display on Monday.

There is still time for other young cricketers who may be interested to join in, and if there are any other young players interested please contact the BCB and you will be attached to a team.

The games are being played at various venues around the Island, and I want to thank the clubs who have offered their grounds. For a young cricketer to play at Somerset or Lord’s, St. David’s, gives them an added rush. It gets their adrenalin flowing, as they start to visualise themselves in years to come playing Cup Match or Eastern Counties.

At the end of the day the Board simply want to see the young cricketers playing more, which in the end will help with their development.

So, if you are not doing anything on a Monday night go watch the XL Super Summer League and I promise you that you will not be disappointed.