Jermaine Lannaman, Star Writer

St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) coach, Clive Ledgister, believes the idea of introducing Twenty20 cricket at the high school level is a good one.

Speaking shortly after his team's recent win over Vere Technical in the final of the inaugural rural area ISSA/Digicel Twenty20, Ledgister explained that his thoughts were based on the worldwide growth of the format.

"It is a very good thing as T20 cricket is growing, and if we are to do well at it, we have to introduce it at the early schoolboy level," Ledgister said.

The rural area Twenty20 is the first of its kind and is complemented by an urban-area equivalent.

The formats were introduced, according to ISSA, to expose young, aspiring players to the version of the game, with the aim of continuing to produce world-class players.

However, according to Ledgister, while liking the introduction of the format, he believes there is a lot of work to be done for it to be effective.

"I see a lot of positives and a lot of negatives," he pointed out.

"For example, players tend to approach the format as if it is an all-out attacking game not realising that to really do well, an innings takes a lot of planning.

"This includes assessing the game situation, calculating runs per over, etc.

"Coaches, therefore, have a lot of work to do in this area."

The rural area Twenty20 initially featured schools that were eliminated from the first round of the Headley Cup.

The top four teams were then pooled, with the semi-finalists of the Headley Cup, from which STETHS emerged victors.

West Indies Under-19 representatives all-rounder Ramaal Lewis and fast bowler Marquino Mindley piloted STETHS to the crown.