FORMER Essequibo Senior inter-county captain and WICB-accredited Level 11 coach Elroy Stephney is appealing to the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) to honour its heroes.

He is of firm conviction that many are deserving of being inducted into a Hall of Fame for their outstanding contributions to the sport and the joy that they have brought to the hearts of their supporters across the country.

Stephney alluded to Berbice Cricket Board (BCB), which recently celebrated its 80th Anniversary with the induction of a number of its former great players including Clayton Lambert, Narsingh Deonarine and Mahendra Nagamootoo.

“I am convinced that our own cricketers from the past had a tremendous impact in how they played the game and the serious influence they had on young cricketers like myself growing up at the time,” posited Stephney.

“As a youngster growing up, I would love going to watch players like Trenton Peters, Ramcharran Singh, Berchmore Reid, Mark Stephney, James Chattergoon and Jaimini Singh bat. Later I would eventually play with these guys and they were phenomenal athletes who would never retreat from a battle.

“They actually inspired me to appreciate and believe in my ability since there weren’t many opportunities back then.” Stephney noted that while he did not get the opportunity to witness some of the older cricketers in action, he was told of a few who played for Essequibo and made the county proud.

He listed the late former national fast bowler Courtney Gonsalves, Alfred Maycock, John Floyd, Jeff Jones, Fitz Garraway, Lennox Alves and Keith Cameron among others, who were as good as any player in their time.

Stephney singled out Jeff Jones as scoring Essequibo’s first inter-county four-day century; a record that was only eclipsed by Ramcharran Singh, Dinesh Joseph, Troy Cornelius and Ramesh Narine.

“The late Courtney Gonsalves was as quick as Colin Croft in his time I was told, and he claimed several 5-wicket hauls against Demerara and Berbice, while only a few could have ferociously smash a cricket ball better than Trenton Peters, who had many famous encounters with the likes of Linden Joseph, Kevin Darlington, Reon King and Colin Stuart.

“It is really sad indeed that we do not have a formal record of these stalwarts from Essequibo and I’m suggesting that the ECB Hostel should be renovated and should house the portraits of these wonderful players of the past.

“I’m therefore suggesting that the ECB should begin the process of identifying our first batch of heroes to be inducted into a Hall of Fame and I’m proposing those to be Courtney Gonsalves, Alfred Maycock, John Floyd and Jeff Jones. “The ECB should also honour the late Kayman Sankar and Beni Sankar for their priceless contributions to the sport both developmentally and administratively.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to the Sankars for bringing cricket to us in a massive way, not only in terms of the resources they provided including the ground, gear and transportation, but also in enabling us to see first class cricket at the Hampton Court ground. Many of us would have never been able to witness the likes of Brian Lara, Carl Hooper, Jimmy Adams, Ian Bishop, Richie Richardson among others live in action.

“Let’s get this started, ECB, to preserve our rich legacy so we can always remember and pay our humble tributes to our deserving heroes.” acknowledged Stephney.