“I WANT to make this bigger and better than the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company’s (GT&T) 10/10 finals. Artistes from the Caribbean including Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica and Guyana will be performing on one stage on one night.”
Those were the words of Managing Director of Kares Enterprise and Bushy Park Sawmills Limited, Radesh Rameshwar, who held a press briefing at the Pegasus Hotel poolside yesterday morning, to update the media on the progress of the tournament.
“I need to see the Guyana National Stadium packed to its capacity for the cricket finals and when that is over, the crowd and more throng the tarmac for the show, as we seek to give the public not a mega concert, but a giga concert for the first time ever at the venue.”
But while Rameshwar expressed his pleasure at the progress of the tournament so far, he was disappointed at the coverage that is being given to the tournament which has a total expenditure of $25M and is being sponsored solely by Kares Enterprise.
“At the start of the tournament, we placed ads in two of the four daily newspapers while we had contracted the Guyana Softball League (GSL), which has been co organising the matches for us, to divulge match reports to the media.
Unfortunately, that has not been the case as we ourselves have not been getting match information from the GSL on time. I would like to see some more coverage being given to the tournament, as even though we are investing millions of dollars into the overall tournament, more millions will be poured into the finals, including massive giveaways to the public” said Rameshwar.
He did not disclose who the artistes are for the giga show, but promised the public who will be attending, that they will not be disappointed, as they will be having a taste of everything, from Rhythm and Blues to Reggae.
Meanwhile, in matches played over the weekend in Leguan, Leguan Secondary School Knight Riders defeated their schoolmates, who formed another team under the name Young Blood, by 63 runs to take the male schools final in that zone, thanks to Paul Williams’ all-round effort and Tarran Hardeo’s hat-trick.
Having top-scored with 31 in his team’s 90 for 6 made off their 10 overs, Williams returned to take 3-2, while Hardeo took his hat-trick to end with the same figures as Williams, as Young Blood were sent packing for 27 in 6 overs.
In a male final played in the same zone, Young Warriors defeated Rebels by four wickets with four balls to spare, to advance to the next round where they will face the winners of the Bartica and Wakenaam zones this weekend, to determine the overall champions for Essequibo and qualify for national playoff.
Rebel batted first and were bowled out for 82 in which Marlon Narine took 5 for 5 including a hat-trick for Young Warriors who reached 83 for 6 from 9.2 overs in reply, thanks to Assab Khan’s 26.
In the Pomeroon zone, Charity Emeralds are the female champions while Charity Secondary School Nexus and Charity Secondary School Females are the Boys and Girls School champions.
Zone finals will be played this weekend in Linden, Mahaica, Essequibo and Bartica.