VICE-president of the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) and former national middle order batsman, Neil Barry, said the Association had a very fruitful 2009 at the youth level, with four of its players going on to represent Guyana at the Regional level.
Addressing an audience which included former Guyana and West Indies middle- order batsman and guest speaker, Basil Butcher, along with president of the GCA and former West Indies all-rounder Roger Harper and his brother Mark, Barry outlined the achievements of the GCA at the Under-15 and U-19 levels.
Below is the report of the vice-president in its entirety:
The Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) commenced the 2009 youth season in December with the Yhann’s Engineering Under-19 40 overs-a-side and the Lifetime Reality 50 Overs competition for Under-15 players.
Both competitions were played on a league-basis with bonus points being awarded in addition to points accrued for wins.
After nine completed rounds for the Under-19 competition, Everest Cricket Club (ECC) played unbeaten to emerge champions with 150 points, followed by Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) with 128 points and Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) in third position with 125 points.
There were six completed rounds of competition for the Under-15, in which Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) clinched the title with 87 points ahead of Gandhi Youth Organisation (GYO) and GCC who finished on 85 and 81 points respectively.

Batting and bowling
In the batting department, six centuries, 24 half-centuries were recorded in the Under-19 competition, while four centuries and 10 half-centuries were scored in the Under-15 competition. In the bowling department, seven and four five-wicket hauls were achieved in the Under-19 and 15 competitions respectively.

Fielding and wicket-keeping
While there were no statistics to reveal the fielding and wicket-keeping results due to such information not being included on the match report forms, it was the view of the GCA that the standard was generally low and the Cricket Development Committee (CDC) has placed these area high on its list of priority to be addressed when the various coaching clinics commence.

Selection
At the conclusion of the aforementioned competitions, the youth selection panel headed by Roderick Lovell, and including Gavin Nedd and Rayon Griffith, in consultation with coaches of the various teams that participated in the competition, selected players to represent the GCA in the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) Inter-association competitions.
The Under-15 team won all of their preliminary games but lost to East Coast in the final which was played at the MSC ground.
The squad of players selected was:-
Kumar Singh (captain), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Martin Pestano-Belle, Andrew Gibson, Vishal Narayan, Terrence Armstrong, Pravindralall Persaud, Steven Sankar, Dexter George,  David Mohammed, Devon Lord, Prince Roberts, Darren Best and Anfernee Bowman.
Six players from the GCA, namely Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Martin Pestano-Belle, Vishal Narayan, Dexter George, Devon Lord and Prince Roberts represented the Demerara county in the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/Castrol Under-15 Inter-county competition, where Demerara lost to Berbice in the final.
From that tournament, four GCA players were selected with one placed on standby by the Guyana youth selection panel to represent Guyana at the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional Under-15 competition in Trinidad and Tobago later this month.
The four players including the standby player are George, Lord, Narayan and Roberts, with Chanderpaul being placed on the standby list. Congratulations are in order for these young men.
The Under-19 trials are currently being held and at the completion of same, the GCA team will be selected to participate in the DCB-sponsored Inter-association Under-19 competition which is scheduled for March 25 and 26.
The GCA would like to sincerely thank the sponsors for coming aboard and partnering with us in the development of cricketers and to the umpires who officiated in the matches as well as parents, who played the important part on allowing their child to participate and in many instances transported players to the different venues.
At the presentation of awards, DCC and GYO received medals for their top placing in the Under-15 competition, with DCC also receiving the Lifetime Real Estate trophy. ECC and MSC also received medals for their top finishing in the Yhann’s Engineering Under-19 competition, with the former collecting the winners’ trophy.
The batsman with the highest score in the Under-15 was DCC’s Andrew Gibson who struck 122 against Transport Sports Club, who was also declared the Most Disciplined team in the tournament.
Lord was awarded the best bowler trophy, for his superb 8-0 from eight overs against Third Class in the Under-15 competition and he was later named one of three MVPs of the Under-15 competition, finishing as the second runner-up behind Chanderpaul who was declared the winner with his 295 runs, including a highest score of 108 not out against MSC and eight wickets, with best bowling figures of 1-0-6-2 and Pravindralall Persaud the first runner-up.
In the Under-19 category, DCC’s Omesh Dhanram recorded the highest score, 121 against Third Class from his overall aggregate of 316 runs, while he also picked up 12 wickets with his best return being 4-32 against GCC, whose left-arm orthodox spinner Raj Nanan was named the best Under-19 bowler with his 8-13 against Police Sports Club (PSC).
ECC’s Christopher Surat was adjudged the MVP of the Under-19 competition, following his 259 runs which included a top score of 121 against Ace Warriors and his 19 wickets, with his club mate and former West Indies Under-15 leg-spinner Amir Khan Dhanram ending as the first and second runners-up respectively.
A word of prayer from secretary of the GCA Keniemo Alphonso opened the night’s proceedings. Chairman for the occasion, local comedian Henry Rodney, delivered a moving tribute to the players in the form of a poem entitled ‘This Life’. The vice-president’s report and the distribution of the various awards followed. Representatives of both Lifetime Real Estate and Yhann’s Engineering also delivered brief remarks during the ceremony which was well attended by cricketers and club members attached to the GCA, and parents.