THE 14th annual Berbice Expo and Trade Fair got off to an exciting start last Friday at the Albion Sports Complex ground with an informative and captivating opening ceremony.

The important aspect of the four-day event was mixed with presentations from prominent persons in the business community and some cultural items.

It is no secret that Guyanese have a deep passion for cricket and that passion is amplified in Berbice as was evident when the members of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the Guyana leg of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s World T20 opened their booth as part of the expo.

After the opening ceremony and during his official walkabout, Minister Gaskin visited the Women’s World Cup cricket pitch, picked up the ball and delivered a perfect first-ball yorker that sent the stumps crashing, to be the first winner of a tournament souvenir t-shirt.

After that, hundreds of curious spectators swarmed the make-shift cricket pitch, which comprised stumps and boundary boards, to get firsthand information on the November 9 to 24 tournament and also to test their skills at batting, bowling and fielding for the opportunity to win branded souvenir t-shirts.

The drills were conducted by former Guyana and West Indies fast bowler Colin Stuart, who is part of the LOC. Stuart was joined by Cricket West Indies Regional Sportainment Manager, Jahmal Thomas; Marketing and Sportainment Manager (Guyana) Rayad Boyce and Media Facilitator (Guyana) John Ramsingh along with the ‘Watch This’ models who interacted with the fans.

Earlier, during the formal opening ceremony where the Honourable Minister of Business,, Dominic Gaskin, delivered the feature address to the gathering of spectators and booth holders, the Unique Arts Dance Troupe performed the theme song for the Women’s World T20, ‘Watch This’ that left the spectators and the officials wanting more.

This resulted in the heavy traffic later experienced on the cricket pitch.

The 10-team tournament bowls off on November 9 at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, with three matches and a super concert with performances from Patrice Roberts and Shenseea the artistes who gave us ‘Watch This”.

Tickets are currently on sale on line at http://worldtwenty20.com while the local box offices will open on Monday, October 29. In all, there are five official warm-up matches and eight World Cup matches scheduled for Guyana at Providence from November 4 to 17. St Lucia will also host preliminary matches while the semifinal and final are set for Antigua.

The Berbice Expo and Trade Fair which is organised by the Central Corentyne Chamber of Commerce, runs from October 5 to 8 and features exhibitions from local businesses in the manufacturing and service industries.

 This year is it being held under the theme, “Advancing economic progress through professional standards and entrepreneurship”.