ONCE again and for the fourth successive week, the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) has hosted highly successful cricket coaching clinics for junior batsmen and spinners in the Ancient County, doing so last weekend at the Area ‘H’ Ground with the batsmen’s clinic on Saturday and the spinners’ the following day. The clinics were conducted by coaches Winston Smith and Julian Moore and were the final sets for junior cricketers for the first quarter of this year.
Chairman of the BCB Special Events Committee, Hilbert Foster, said 43 junior batsmen attended the batting clinic, including Kandasammy Surujnarine, Linden Austin, Shawn Pereira, Veerapen Permaul, Viendra Gooniah, Arif Chan and Shailendra Shameer.
Some of the spinners present at Sunday’s clinic were Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai, Kevin Ramdeen, Daniel Lewis, Sharaz Ramcharran and Shawn Pereira among others.
Foster expressed satisfaction at the attendance of both clinics and also for the fast-bowling and wicket-keeping clinics, disclosing that the junior selection committee under the chairmanship of Leslie Solomon and the coaches would this week release a 35-member elite squad for both the Under-15 and Under-19 levels, to start special training for upcoming Inter-county tournaments.
Head coach Julian Moore disclosed that he and his fellow coaches were highly impressed with the high level of talents available in the county and stated that the BCB should be commended for undertaking this massive coaching programme during the current rainy season, while expressing his confidence that Berbice would continue its dominance of Guyana’s junior cricket with the talents available.
Former West Indies batting great Basil Butcher who was at the closing ceremony of the batting clinic gave an inspirational 15-minute address to the young cricketers.
Butcher, who played 44 Test matches for the West Indies, urged his attentive audience to practise and train on a regular and continuous basis and to be disciplined at all times, as he traced his rise from his days at the Port Mourant Cricket Club to playing at the historic Lord’s Cricket Ground.
Everyone, Butcher said, has the opportunity to represent the West Indies at the highest level once he/she has the talents, discipline and commitment.
He praised the BCB, which is headed by his eldest son, Keith Foster, for the great work being done to lift Berbice even higher in the game of cricket and urged the young cricketers to support the BCB’s efforts to seek ways to develop themselves even more.