By Stan Walker

Former Barbados Club’s fast bowler, Anthony Gilkes, is the first local person to become a certified cricket coach. The East Hartford resident, who has been involved with the sport in the northeast region more than 20 years, recently received the South Australia Cricket Association Level 3 coaching certificate. He successfully passed the final exams.

Gilkes, who began his cricketing career as a youngster in Barbados, said that he prepared for the certificate over a three-year period during visits to Australia. The certificate allows him to coach not only youngsters but all the way up to the Test level. Presently a member of the Connecticut Cricket League’s Judiciary Committee, he has been recommended by the United States’ Cricket Association’s director for the northeast region, Curtis Clarke, to take over the coaching of the U.S. Under-19 team. The team is presently preparing for international competitions.

The erstwhile cricket enthusiast, who travels to parts of the world where the West Indies’ cricket team plays, said that he was encouraged to try for the certificate during one of his visits to Australia by Joe Hoad, a former Barbadian player, who now resides in that country. Hoad, he said, is not only the Psychologist for the Australian national team, but conducts seminars and camps on coaching for interested persons in southern Australia.

Before leaving his native Barbados, Gilkes who played in the senior division for Maple and the Spartans Cricket Clubs, represented the Barbados Cricket League against a Barbados Cricket Association XI in their annual game. Some of his teammates included David Holford, Cammie Smith, Peter Lashley and George Rock, who went on to play for the West Indies’ team.

On his arrival in the U.S., Gilkes played for Melbourne Cricket Club and Modern Cricket Club of Brooklyn, New York. Before moving to Connecticut, he earned the distinction of becoming the first bowler to take 50 wickets in a regular competition in the U.S. He was also selected to play for the U.S. against Bermuda and the Hyderabad Blues team from India.  

Dalton James, left, presents Jamaica Consul General Dr. Basil Bryan with a cheque for $5,000 at a reception held at the Consulate in New York earlier this year. The funds were raised at the Cricket Hall of Fame’s first annual Humanitarian award function.