INCUMBENT president of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) Hilbert Foster will be seeking re-election on Sunday, when the board holds its general meeting at the Port Mourant Cricket Club .

Foster, who is also vice-president of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and a director of Cricket West Indies (CWI) was first elected to the presidency in February 2018 and has spearheaded a major transformation of the county’s cricket over the last four years.

He stated that he has no interest in the politics of cricket and would be running solely on his unmatched list of achievements. The BCB head inherited a cricket system that was on the verge of total collapse and stated that despite achieving the impossible to date, much more still has to be done as the intention is to make Berbice, the jewel in the crown of West Indies cricket.

Foster further stated that his administration took over a system with less than $50 000 in the bank account, no proper cricket tournament completed in two years, no developmental programme in place, no proper office to operate from, while players were quitting the game at a very fast rate.

The current executives such as leaders like Albert Smith, Angela Haniff, Dr Cecil Beharry, Leslie Solomon, Qualis Winter and Ameer Rahaman from day one in office. worked as a collective body and their record of achievements is unmatched in Guyana and the Caribbean cricketing circle.

The board has started or successfully completed a combined 75 cricket tournaments at junior and senior levels, raised close to $60M of sponsorship in cash and kind, organised hundreds of developmental programmes,
assisted clubs and youth players with over $20M, inclusive of items, further launching an ambitious educational campaign to make sure Berbice youth players place special emphasis on obtaining an education.

Hundreds of educational grants have been handed out to youths along with educational materials, cycles and uniforms in a massive effort to get youths to stay in school.

The BCB for the first time also handed out a scholarship to the University of Guyana and unveiled a countywide coaching programme which has trained thousands of youths.

The board also created history when it became the first cricket board to publish its own coaching manual and also spearheaded a total restoration of its office.

Other achievements include the distribution of grass-cutters, catching cribs, water pitchers, cricket pitch covers while for the first time, sub-associations and the umpires association received financial subventions.

Female cricket was also invested into heavily by the BCB and three Berbicians are now currently in the West Indies female team. Foster was quick to point out that a total of 19 players from the Ancient County have either played for the regional team at different levels since 2018 or were called to training camps.

Asked to name his greatest achievement, the veteran administrator stated that he was very proud of the state of unity that existed in county cricket and the fact that dozens of former players based overseas are contributing to the game. This he stated is based on their confidence in his team.

Another major achievement has been to make sure that no ghost member clubs exist in the county. Clubs like Guymine, Kildonan, Mt Sinai are all back on their feet and are very active in playing tournaments.

He also stated that his board has been very transparent with the general public via very aggressive public relations campaigns on social media and the national printed and electronic media.

The 52-year old BCB president expressed gratitude to the hundreds of sponsors and donors who have supported the board and made special mention of overseas Guyanese like Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh, Dr Puran Singh, Brian Ramphal, Sureain Sawh, Bobby Deonarine among others.

Three sub-associations and 13 clubs would vote in the elections. They are West Berbice Cricket Association, Upper Corentyne Cricket Association, Berbice River Cricket Association, Blairmont, Police, Guymine, Mental Hospital, Mt Sinai, Rose Hall Canje, Young Warriors, Chesney, RHTYSC, Port Mourant, Albion, Kildonan and Whim.

Each club has two votes and the three sub-associations four votes each.