… Coordinator Dexter George hoping to resuscitate format

By Clifton Ross

TAPEBALL cricket fans will be in for a treat on January 1 and 3 2021, when Pure Entertainment hosts its 7-a-side cricket tournament dubbed ‘Stars on Show’, set for the National Park tarmac. Spearheaded by former national Youth cricketer Dexter George, the event will be played with a main prize purse of $120 000. up for grabs, with runners-up also playing for a hefty second place sum of $60 000. The 6-overs-per-side competition also features a few additional prizes to be won – the batsman to the fastest score of 40 will receive $5 000, along with the finals MVP who will be awarded a similar purse.

George, Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) seamer, told Chronicle Sport that the event has attracted a few sponsors thus far the like of Hand-in-Hand, V-Net and others ahead of the new year. Last year’s edition saw V-Net Vipers defeat Villages Ram in the final and George said that he was happy to see a number of Guyana’s top tapeball teams signalling their intention to participate in the 2021 edition. Those confirmed teams are Village Ram, Eccles All-Stars, Tarmac Allstars, East Coast Express and Strikers, to name a few, with more set to come on board over the coming days. George, who played national cricket at every level running up to the U-19, said his love for cricket was first birthed by virtue of tapeball cricket. He said that his goal is to create a national tapeball league whereby less fortunate but talented players can still earn and play even if they don’t make it to the senior or international levels.

“The main objective is to resuscitate the interest of tapeball cricket. I hope we can have a national tapeball league because I want to see it reach a level whereby teams can earn from it”. “Being a former national Youth player, like many other youngsters it was my dream to play for Guyana and West Indies. However, having to work and provide for myself and family prevented me from training and putting as much into my career, so that’s when I turned to tapeball,” George explained.
Tapeball has been one of the most popular but less structured formats of cricket, with softball even having its own league and annual fixtures.
However, an optimistic George said he believes that this upcoming event could spark a bigger interest in the format and one which could be similar to that of the past when tapeball cricket was a main staple of the fraternity of cricketers. Meanwhile, registration for the event closes on December 30, with entrance fee for teams being $10 000. Interested teams can contact the coordinator George on 671-0458.