… Another venue to be opened on Friday

By Clifton Ross

THE Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) in partnership with  Everest Cricket Club (ECC), officially unveiled its all-purpose outdoor practice facility, named after Guyana/West Indies batting legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

With much emphasis being placed on upgrading cricket facilities across Guyana, GCB opened up their first of many venues yesterday, right in the backyard of ECC.

The area will serve as the primary practice venue for Guyana Jaguars national team, who practise for days weekly at the Everest ground. The venue is also open to players and clubs around the city as Everest president Manzoor Nadir, during the ceremony, said the facility will now play a bigger role in the development of the city-based cricketers.

Present at the ceremony to officially commence the opening of the facility was GCB secretary Anand Sanasie, Territorial Developmental Officer (TDO) Colin Stuart and GCB Administrative executive Selena Bacchus.

Nadir said players will now have more opportunities at honing their skills come practice time, as the venue’s newest area was equipped to handle rigours of the weather, without robbing players of valuable training time. He further thanked the GCB for continuing its mandate which is aimed at infrastructural expansion of venues across the country.

Sanasie noted that the move to upgrade ECC was always in the pipeline, as Everest was basically the practice home of the national cricket team as well as the Jaguars Academy players.

He said GCB is currently geared towards ensuring that venues such as the Shiv Chanderpaul outdoor facility are erected across the country, as it will help to target the development of players on a wider demographic plane.

The GCB executive also confirmed that the board will be unveiling another such facility in Parika on Friday, adding that the highly-anticipated LBI facility, which has been undergoing immense upgrades, will be unveiled soon.

Sanasie added that such moves to have these venues named after iconic Guyanese cricketers is something the GCB plans to continue doing as the other potential facilities could also bear significant names.

Meanwhile, TDO Stuart, in closing, said the developmental committee of the GCB was happy to make such strides with regard to providing proper training grounds for its players.