… 2021 projected to be most successful in history

THE Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) and president Hilbert Foster predict a historic 2021 for cricket in the Ancient County, following a highly successful, COVID-ridden 2020.
The board has described the year 2020 as highly successful despite being able to actually play the game for only the first three months of the year.
After taking a break during the month of April, BCB was able to achieve great success off the cricket field via its charity works, coaching programmes, award ceremony, pro-educational campaign and investments in clubs and youth players.
Foster, who was elected president in February, 2018 stated that unlike the other cricket boards in Guyana, BCB has much to celebrate as it continued to work hard despite the pandemic.
Thirteen cricket tournaments were either started or completed between January and March while several others are also awaiting the restart of the cricket season to be completed.
Rose Hall Town NAMILCO Thunderbolt Flour defeated arch rivals Albion to win the Busta Champions of Champions 40 overs, Ivan Madray 20/20 Cup in January and also got past Tucber Park to win the STAG Beer 50-overs tournament.

Albion won the Raffik Construction 100 Balls Second Division and the Ramnaresh Sarwan Under-17 titles while Rose Hall Town Bakewell won the Lower Corentyne Let’s Bet 20/20 tournament. Rose Hall Town Metro Female lifted the 2020 Nand Persaud female title while No.73 won the BCB/UCCA/Trophy Stall Under-19 title. The BCB/UCCA Inter-Primary School tournament was won by No,71 Primary School.
The Premium Asphalt/TR Construction 20/20 for teams in the Lower Corentyne area, which started in January, 2020 is at the final stage while the Lewison’s General Store and Mike’s Pharmacy Under-15 tournaments are also at the semi-final stage.
The BCB/UCCA Price is Right tournament is also at the final stage with Dukestown and No.72 Cut and Load scheduled to battle for championship honours.
Other tournaments on hold due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic are the Banks DIH Ltd two days (semi-final stage), Let’s Bet Sport Countywide (finals), Friends of New Amsterdam 20/20 (semi-finals), and NBS 40 overs (Quarter-finals).

The BCB also invested heavily in coaching and the hosting of several trial matches to select inter-county teams. Overseas-based Guyanese Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh and Brian Ramphal sponsored a combined nine trial matches for the selection of the Berbice Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 teams while a wide range of coaching clinics were held for fast bowlers, batsmen, spinners and wicketkeepers. The BCB panel of coaches also visited over 20 clubs to conduct coaching sessions including No.73, Port Mourant, RHTYSC, RH Canje, Achievers, Mt Sinai and Edinburgh.
BCB, with support from RHTYSC, also invested heavily into the development of players with over 200 youths benefitting from donation of gear, uniforms, bicycles and educational materials under a wide range of programmes, including the Basil Butcher Trust Fund, Dr Tulsi Dyal/Puran Singh Fund, RHTYSC Patron Fund, BCB Patron Fund and Brian Ramphal Trust Fund.
Over 60 clubs benefitted from the donations of cricket balls with sponsorship from former Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy, Basil Butcher Trust Fund and RHTYSC.
Clubs also benefitted from donations of scorebooks, Law of Cricket books, facemasks, educational materials and stumps.

BCB and RHTYSC also invested in the publication of educational posters, youth information booklets, COVID-19 posters and a Say No to Crime information sticker.
Sixty-nine youth cricketers received school bags while six outstanding cricketers who did well at CSEC, received a financial stipend of $10 000 each.
Former West Indies player Ramnaresh Sarwan also donated a $100 000 coaching kit to BCB to aid in the development of youth players. Jerry Karim of Blairmont received the Brian Ramphal Father-of-the-Year while Veronica Cecil was named the Brian Ramphal Mother-of-the-Year.
The board also worked with Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club, MS in a COVID-19 response programme which saw the distribution of over 6 000 food hampers, 2 000 lb of chicken products, face masks, cleaning detergents and sanitisers.

On the cricket field, Berbice Cricket had a lot to celebrate as Shemaine Campbelle became the fourth West Indian to play 100 20/20 matches, Gudakesh Motie reached his 100 first-class wickets in his 28th game, Shabika Gajnabi scored the first female double-century at the inter-county female level and Veersammy Permaul earned a welcome recall to the West Indies team.
Kevin Sinclair and Niall Smith made their first-class debut for Guyana while Shemaine Campbelle, Sheneta Grimmond and Kevlon Anderson represented the West Indies at World Cup tournaments in Australia and South Africa.
Other Berbicians to either represent Guyana, Amazon Warriors or the West Indies in 2020 were Devendra Bishoo, Anthony Bramble, Kevin Sinclair, Niall Smith, Shimron Hetmyer, Shabika Gajnabi, Motie, Permaul and Romario Shepherd.

Shepherd became the latest Berbician to score a first-class century. The pro-active board also created history when it awarded its first-ever educational scholarship to the University of Guyana with sponsorship from the Ministry of Agriculture.
The year ended with a donation of $1.5M worth of cricket gear and uniforms from former West Indies opener Clayton Lambert.
The BCB also played a major role in the funeral arrangement for the legendary Basil Butcher by hosting a Night of Reflection at the Port Mourant Ground and co-Organising his funeral service. 2020 also saw Berbice Cricket mourning the death of umpire Ganga Persaud Shivdyal and players Jerome Andrews, Sherwin Murray.
The board would like to acknowledge the contribution of the media especially Kaieteur News, Stabroek News, Guyana Chronicle, Guyana Times, DTV-8, LRTVS CH10, NCN, NTN and News Room.