THE Berbice Cricket Board (BCB), as part of its ongoing efforts to invest heavily in youth development, has agreed to host four inter zone Under-19 knockout cricket tournaments across Berbice.

The Zones are: Upper Corentyne (including Black Bush Poldel), Central/ Lower Corentyne, New Amsterdam/Canje/East Bank and West Berbice.
The U-19 tournament is one of three tournaments which will be played in each of the sub-zones as part of an aggressive cricket development programme.
On Thursday last, the president of the BCB, Hilbert Foster, received sponsorship from two sponsors for the Upper Corentyne and New Amsterdam/East Bank Berbice tournaments, while an overseas-based Guyanese has committed to sponsoring another in June for teams in the Lower Corentyne area.

Contractor, Tevindra Jagdeo, of Premium Asphalt Inc. would be sponsoring the New Amsterdam/Canje/East Bank Berbice tournament.
Among the teams expected to play in that tournament are Kendall’s Union, Rose Hall Canje, Tucber Park, Mt. Sinai, Guymine, Edinburgh and East Bank Blazers.
The matches would be played at the Canje, Edinburgh and Kendall’s Union venues, with the final set for the Edinburgh ground.
Another contractor, Mohamed Ahmad of Mohamed Ahmad Construction Ltd., is the sponsor for the Upper Corentyne leg of the tournaments. Teams to play would include No. 73, Scottsburg, Skeldon and Radha Krishna Academy.

Meanwhile, overseas-based Guyanese, Rickey Itwaru, has agreed to sponsor the Lower Corentyne tournament which would be played in June at the Albion Sports Complex ground. The teams to play in that tournament would be Albion, Rose Hall Town Pepsi and Port Mourant.

Foster, who is spearheading the BCB marketing effort, disclosed that the board has, in one month, obtained sponsorship for twenty four tournaments and that the four internal zone tournaments would be followed by a countywide U-19, 50-over competition which would be sponsored by the New York Business Group.
The main aims of the four internal zone tournaments would be to encourage youth players to join clubs in their areas, to identify promising players for the BCB Elite Coaching programme and to allow different clubs across Berbice to win BCB titles. Foster praised the cooperation of Region Six Regional Executive Officer, Navindra Persaud, whom he hailed as a true friend of cricket development.