-All-rounder Sinclair to sponsor cricket tourney

The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB), last week, with the support of former Berbice, Guyana and West Indies opener, Clayton Lambert, continued to assist cricket organisations in the Ancient County as it hits the ground running for the new year.

The very vibrant and progressive board’s theme for 2021 is “Year of Investment” with over 200 youth players expected to benefit from donations of gears, bicycles, and educational materials among other things. Also listed to benefit are numerous cricket clubs and organisations, in an effort to help them recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The BCB handed over a quantity of cricket gears, coloured uniforms and scorebooks to several clubs and schools, including the Berbice River Cricket Association (BRCA), the Upper Corentyne Cricket Association (UCCA), the Berbice High School (BHS), the Rose Hall Canje CC (RHC CC) and the newly formed Line Path Cricket Club.

The BRCA, Line Path CC and BHS received a set of cricket gears while the UCCA collected a box of cricket balls. The BRCA and Rose Hall Canje CC collected fifteen pairs of coloured uniforms to assist them in their overall development, especially playing at the first division level.

The combined cost of both sets of uniforms is two hundred and forty thousand dollars (240,000) and the BCB president, Hilbert Foster, called on the clubs and organisations to take good care of the donations. Noting that he understands the high cost of acquiring gears is affecting clubs to fulfil their mandates to members, he committed his board to assisting those clubs that need help.

He, however, stated that emphasis would be placed on clubs that have junior sections. Foster stated that the future of Berbice cricket depended on investing in youths and not on persons who are playing the game for recreational purposes.

The BCB would continue to organise cricket for all to play but its investments would be in junior players. He stated that all clubs in the county would receive donation of cricket balls later in the year while some would get cricket gear.

The Berbice High School is one of the top schools in the county and has produced a list of top cricketers including Lambert and Shimron Hetmeyer, while the Berbice River Cricket Association has been neglected in the past.

Under Foster’s leadership, the BCB has organised several tournaments for teams in the riverain area and has made several donations to teams. History would also be created when a combined team takes part in the historic Berbice semi-professional league later in the year.

The Line Path CC was recently resuscitated after a long period of dormancy and approached the BCB for assistance. The UCCA is the most active sub association in the county and has benefitted from numerous assistance from its parent body over the last three years.

Meanwhile, the BCB would shortly be benefitting from the sponsorship of another national player as Kevin Sinclair would be coming on board as a sponsor of a junior tournament. Sinclair would be joining teammates, Romario Shepherd and Shimron Hetmeyer, as sponsors of cricket tournaments in Berbice. The tournament would be launched shortly.