MINISTER of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCYS) Dr Frank Anthony has stated during his brief remarks at the 2009 Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Annual Awards Ceremony, held at the Umana Yana last Tuesday night, his ministry is looking to make the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Twenty20 competition a successful one, with the opening being targeted for special treatment.

“When we look back at Carifesta X and the experience garnered from same, I think it would only be wise if we can make the opening ceremony of the ICC’s T20 tournament, which is scheduled for the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, a spectacular one here in Guyana.”

Addressing the audience which included Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Dr Ernest Hilaire, Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali and former president of the GCB Norman McLean, Dr Anthony expressed his confidence in the person/s who will be tasked with executing the job.

“We have some work to do, but I am confident we have the right people who are capable of executing same in order to make it a success story not only for Guyana, but the West Indies on the whole,” Dr Anthony stated.

At the same time, the Minister urged the GCB to form a stronger partnership with his Ministry on the utilisation of the Guyana National Stadium, calling for more local matches to be played at the fastest drying cricket venue in the Caribbean.

“You have been able to acquire sponsorship throughout the year for your competitions which were played in the various age groups, something some associations were unable to do, but at the same time, I would like to see more local matches being played at the national stadium.

He continued: “A stronger partnership needs to be forged between the GCB and the Ministry on the utilisation of the stadium whether it is for local matches or even regional ones, but what the GCB needs to do is explore the formula to attract a larger turnout at local matches.

The stadium can also be used for specialised clinics orchestrated by the GCB, whether it is in the area of bowling, fielding or even batting, with the services of local and foreign experts in those respective fields being utilised in 2010.”

Citing the bi-annual visit of an English school team to these shores, Dr Anthony urged the GCB to attract more school or foreign teams to visit and utilise the national stadium for matches, apart from WICB-organised matches and stated that the GCB has the connections to do so.

He applauded the GCB on their ability to host all tournaments they bid for and got done efficiently this year, stating that positive comments were received. He congratulated Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Travis Dowlin and Narsingh Deonarine on their appointments to the West Indies team.

“After a long time, we were able to have four players on the West Indies team at one time and I think that in itself spoke volumes with regard to the work that was being done by the GCB. However, there must have been some negatives, but let’s not quarrel but learn from them, so that we don’t make the same mistakes next year.

“You must be able to utilise, also, the technologies that are available in world cricket today, as that’s the only way we can catch up the rest of the world as together we strive to take cricket in Guyana forward.

“The ministry will be working closely with the GCB in coordinating more school competitions and in that mould, we have been in contact with Cricket USA whose committee has decided to sponsor in full, an Inter-school T20 competition in 2010,” said Dr Anthony.