Eltham set to break ground for Stafanie Taylor stadium

Principal of Eltham High School Barrington Mighton said work on the brand new multipurpose stadium which will be named in honour of West Indies Women's captain Stafanie Taylor is scheduled to commence soon.

Taylor, who began her cricket career at Eltham, has gone on to become one of the world's most successful female cricketers of her generation.

Mighton said the process of securing all the relevant permissions is at an advanced stage and he is quite optimistic that the work will begin in short order.

"This multipurpose facility is going to be on the regular football field here. The plan is here and we have got some approval from the Sports Development Foundation," said Mighton.

"I am in the process of seeking some approval from the St Catherine Municipal Council for the drawings, which I will deliver today (Wednesday), and so we are hoping to see some construction on that in the not so-distant-future.

VERY PROUD

"Words cannot express how we are feeling about how well she has led the West Indies and how well she has carried the mantle for Eltham High School. She has taken the torch and she has brought it right across the world, and we are very proud of her achievements," Mighton said.

Another former student, football player Tremaine Stewart, who led Eltham to the Walker Cup title in 2006 and to the Manning Cup semi-finals that same year, passed away suddenly on Sunday during a corner league match in his community of Gordon Pen.

Mighton noted that it is very important for his institution to honour their sport stars while they are alive so that it can be an example for other students to follow.

"The good things about the Stafanie Taylor Oval is that we will be honouring her while she is still alive, and so it is sad that we never got the chance to show Tremaine Stewart our appreciation before he passed on, because we really want to use these persons who have gone on to greatness as examples to our students who are here," he said.

Taylor is the West Indies all-time leading run-scorer in One-Day International cricket with 4,754 runs. Taylor, in 2013, became the only player in history, male or female, to ever hold the number one ODI ranking in both batting and bowling at the same time.