… elected for another term.
THE cricketing community in Berbice last Monday expressed their total appreciation on the development and progress of the game in the Ancient County, by re-electing the Keith Foster-led administration for another two years term. In fact, seven of the eight executives were re-elected en bloc based on a motion that was passed by votes of 31 to 1, with the Albion Community Centre Cricket Club being the only dissenting vote.
Former third vice-president Ricardo Bachan who is ill did not seek re-election and in the race to replace him, national selector Hubern Evans defeated Port Mourant Cricket Club’s president Godfrey Persaud by a 24 to 8 margin for the position.
The Berbice Cricket Board Biennial General Meeting was held in an atmosphere of brotherhood and unity with all delegates present discussing proposals to further push the county’s cricket to another level.
The reports of the president (Keith Foster), secretary (Angela Haniff), treasurer (Anil Beharry), competitions committee chairman (Carl Moore) and Special Events Committee chairman (Hilbert Foster) were all discussed at the meeting.
In his report, the president highlighted the remarkable progress during 2010 especially the performances of the Inter-county teams and individual players while he had special praise for the work of the Special Events Committee which he stated has completely changed in a positive way the image of the BCB.
The Competitions Committee report proudly stated a record-breaking 20 cricket competitions were played, while the Special Events Committee revealed a record 70 off-the-field programmes and projects.
Delegates also held a long and fruitful discussion on the Board’s audited financial report for 2010 and expressed confidence in Beharry’s handing of the Board’s finances.
Discussions were also held on a wide range of topics including selectors’ attendance at matches, the need for Inter-zone selectors, discipline of senior national players, lack of tournaments for women, transfer of senior cricketers from one club to another and how many matches a cricketer must play to be selected for the senior Berbice team.
Based on these discussions, the BCB decided to select selectors for each Inter-zone in the county and those senior players, who play in Trinidad and the U.S.A, must play a minimum of five matches combined at both the one-day and three-day levels to be considered for selection.
Special emphasis would also be placed on the transfer of senior players among clubs as the BCB would have to grant permission, Based on a motion by Hilbert Foster of the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club, the BCB will be honouring outgoing and long-serving president of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Chetram Singh at a specially arranged function in Berbice.
The BCB has set itself a target of at least 20 tournaments and a total of 75 off-the-field activities for 2011. They also aim to totally dominate all Inter-county tournaments and have decided to commence preparations for next year’s Under-15 tournament by launching a junior elite training programme that would involve the top 40 junior players in Berbice.
The Board 2011 cricket season would be launched with the Rohan Kanhai Tribute Match at No.69 Cricket ground between West Berbice/New Amsterdam/Canje who will oppose a Corentyne Team.
The off-the-field activities would be launched with the fourth Annual Educational Awards Scheme and the launching of the third Annual BCB magazine.
The full BCB Executives for the year 2011 to 2013 are: Keith Foster (president) David Black (First vice-president), Mark Lyte (Second vice-president), Hubern Evans (Third vice-president), Angela Haniff (secretary), Carol Nurse (assistant secretary), Anil Beharry (treasurer) and Romesh Munna (assistant treasurer).
The Returning Officer for the election was president of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) Colin Bynoe who congratulated all the delegates on their discipline and unity during the elections, while the president in his re-election speech, expressed gratitude to the BCB’s members for their confidence in his executives and pledged that the next two years would be even better for Berbice Cricket.
The new executive body would meet early next year to select the different committees of the Berbice Cricket Board.