Speaking at the Groundbreaking and Sign Unveiling Ceremony for the Stafanie Oval on November 1, the Sport Minister said it was demonstrating that women’s cricket is deserving of the same esteem as the men’s game.

Miss Grange said: “Never before in the history of the sport of cricket in Jamaica has a ground been named for a female cricketer. In fact, you would have to search very hard in the rest of the world to find a cricket stand named after a female much more a cricket ground.”

She said Stafanie Taylor had accomplished more than any other cricketer in the women’s game. She pointed to her numerous awards from the International Cricket Council and her crowning glory of leading the West Indies Women’s Team to the T/20 World Cup Title in 2016, the first West Indies Women’s team captain and Jamaican to lead a regional women’s team to a global title in cricket.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Stafanie Taylor Oval will motivate girls to take up the sport and give them a facility to polish their skills.  We want to give every young talent at Eltham High School an opportunity to excel as you have done Stafanie.

"You are a role model in the community from which you came, you are a role model to the people of Spanish Town. Your place in the records of the great sport of cricket is secured.”

Minister Grange said the Stafanie Taylor Oval, will be a fine facility which will boast three-multi-purpose courts refurbished and re-fenced. There will be major rehabilitation of the grounds and stands and change rooms will be built as well as a major drainage system put in.

“It will be just rewards for the enduring cricketing prowess of Eltham High School and worthy to bear the name of its most famous alumna and Jamaica’s and the world’s best female cricketer -  Stafanie Roxann Taylor,” the Sport Minister concluded.

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