RECENTLY elected president of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Dru Bahadur yesterday told Chronicle Sport in an exclusive interview that if his body intends to move forward with the further development of cricket in Guyana, the blessings of the Government is pivotal.
“For us to move forward, we must get the blessings of the Government. I am not saying that we are asking the Government to pump money into Guyana’s cricket, but we need them,

” stated Bahadur.
He added, “When we put out a team, it is not a GCB team, but a Guyana cricket team and I think the players do suffer; for sometimes they are caught down the road asking themselves the question, who should I listen to and that at times can have an effect on their performance.”
The former GCB Assistant Secretary said he has been making several attempts to get to the Minister of Sport Dr Frank Anthony, with regard to Guyana hosting matches in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), all to no avail.
“I have some disappointments at the moment, one of which I am trying to get the Minister of Sport to discuss a few issues in relation to the CPL. The other issues that are there, I think they have to go the course and I respect the judgment of the courts. We understand there are legal issues, but we were informed by our lawyers, coupled with two legal opinions, that the injunctions were discharged.
“We further informed our parent body the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), whose legal opinion reflects the same with regard to the court matters,” stated Bahadur.
He added, “But specifically with regard to the CPL along with other regional and international fixtures returning to Guyana, I have made several telephone calls, even tried texting and spoken to a few persons who can be influential in arranging a meeting between the subject Minister and me, all to no avail and again I say, for us to move forward, we must get the blessings of the Government.”
When sought for a comment, Dr Anthony acknowledged receiving the phone calls from Bahadur, but refused to meet with him in his capacity as president of the GCB, saying the electoral process in which he was elected, was flawed.
“We have court orders that they have violated. They had one and half county boards out of three county boards, meeting and electing the GCB, which means the election was not properly constituted.
“Added to that, they have injunctions against them and they have blatantly violated the laws of the country, so how can we recognise a board that has violated the laws of the country. Added to that, I have no problems meeting Mr Bahadur as a private citizen, as we are not recognising him as the president of the GCB, since the electoral process was flawed,” stated Dr Anthony.
Earlier, Bahadur said he sees a positive year for Guyana’s cricket and cricket in the Caribbean, following the introduction of the much-talked-about CPL which is scheduled to bowl off July 26 and run to August 29 across the Region.
“The GCB tried its best to have maximum participation in its electoral process. Unfortunately, not everyone participated. I see my ascendancy to the president of the GCB as a big challenge.
It is so because, it is no secret in Guyana, what is happening with the GCB and what I would like to see happen is getting the County boards to be more responsible and work closely with the GCB, so that we can work more comfortably,” said Bahadur.
“As it is, the future for cricket not only in Guyana but the Caribbean looks exciting with the much-talked-about CPL, but it is uncertain whether Guyana would be able to get into the CPL at the moment, for several reasons that I choose not to mention at this time.
“Players are going to get contracts, with such contracts leading to bigger contracts, since the CPL would be played along the same lines as the highly lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL),” added Bahadur.
He outlined as one of his main objectives, the reintroduction of cricket in the schools and outlying areas, which he views as critical to the growth of the sport, coupled with having the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) participation in the development of the sport in Guyana.
“We are looking strongly at getting the cricket back into the schools and that is very high up on my agenda. In fact, that was already discussed at our first executive meeting. The vice-president who is responsible for cricket development, Alfred Mentore, was tasked with that responsibility, where he will have to meet with the Ministry of Education to work out the details
“After the school cricket, we also want to get the game of cricket into areas that are not traditional to get the cricket into, as an example Lethem, wherein we want to see how best we can lend the support to the counties who are closer to these areas, towards developing the sport.”
Bahadur said it is the intention of the GCB, to get back fully with the organising and playing of cricket at every level, commencing at the Under-15 and going all the way to the top, including female cricket, to go along with the playing of schools cricket.
“I have tasked the marketing officer to quickly get his team together, so we can quickly get back on board with our sponsors, since during all the upheavals that was taking place, sponsors were in doubt, putting some pressure on the GCB, who was forced to run off the various competitions, at its own expense.”
He said the GCB has in mind to do more for the game at the local level, thus producing more players for the West Indies, but in order for them to do so, the assistance of Corporate Guyana through sponsorship is greatly needed.
Just last Monday, the Albion Community Centre Cricket Club hosted an appreciation ceremony for its very own Veerasammy Permaul who became their fifth Test cricketer and at the completion of such, Bahadur was seen having a discussion with BCB president Keith Foster.
Asked to comment on that discussion, Bahadur said, “I extended an olive branch to the BCB, since they play an integral part in Guyana’s cricket.
“Following my brief discussion with their president Keith Foster, wherein I told him that since 2011 I have not seen a BCB representative at any GCB meeting, he (Foster) told me to send the minutes and he will discuss it with his executives.
“I honestly need to see the participation of the BCB with the GCB so I urged their president to come to the meetings and participate fully in its proceedings.”
Bahadur believes that once he can get all the County boards working together with the GCB with one common goal in mind, which is to develop Guyana’s cricket and take it back to where it was once, then the ills that plague the sport in recent times, can become something of the past.”