WITH the aim at providing cricket at the youth level across the Ancient County, Guyana’s leading sport organisation, the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTY&SC), yesterday teamed up with Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) to officially launch the GWI ‘Water is Life’ Under-17 tournament at the company’s Corporate Complex, Vllissengen Road. The tournament, which targets 16 teams will be played on a knock-out 50 overs basis.
As part of the tournament rules and regulations, no form of indiscipline will be tolerated.
Apart from the Metro Female team, no other team is allowed to field any overage player, since teams can be disqualified if found guilty.
For the other remaining teams, only players born on or after September 1, 2000 are eligible to participate.
Meanwhile, at the simple but significant ceremony, Secretary/CEO of the Club, Hilbert Foster, hailed the tournament as another milestone, since the club has a passion for cricket and the development of youths.
Foster pointed out that the tournament is another effort by the club in ensuring that the game is played at the junior level, with the ultimate aim to return Berbice cricket to its usual high standard.
“The state of Berbice cricket should be a great worry for every lover of the game,” Foster noted.
He added, “To make matters worse, cricket tournaments are as rare as diamonds, nothing is been done off the cricket field to find and develop talents for the future. Unless something is done urgently, Berbice cricket will only get worse and we will pass Essequibo on the way down the ladder.”
Finally, the experienced sports administrator thanked the management of GWI for its support, adding that the sponsorship will definitely assist the club in fulfilling its goal to host at least 20 cricket tournaments for the year.
GWI Director of Human Resources Management and Development, Gale Doris, expressed confidence in the club’s ability to organise a successful tournament and to fulfil every objective.
She challenged the club to encourage the youths to have a balance between education and sports.
A date for the start of the tournament is yet to be confirmed, but at the conclusion the winning team will take home $40 000 and the winners’ trophy.