The West Indies and, in turn, Guyana have produced several top cricketers at the youth level, but many have fallen through the cracks on their transition to senior cricket.

Remember Alick Athanaze from Dominica, who was the leading run-scorer at the Under-19 World Cup in 2018, with 418 runs at an average of 104.50, where he reeled off two centuries and two half-centuries?

Nope? Well since then, he has just played 13 First-Class matches and 23 List A matches for the Windward Islands.

Finishing behind Athanaze on the run-scoring list was India’s Shubman Gill, with 372 runs. Gill, 22, has already played Test and One-Day Internationals and is a consistent face for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League

Without question, India’s structure, and financial power outweigh West Indies, but the key word is structure.

From a local level, the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) is looking to better groom their youth players, and their method is via tournaments at the Under-21 and Under-23 level along with the Academy structure.

“They will fit into academy and development programmes and so on, but this gives you a clear idea as to the end-game and how you bridge that gap”, GCB President, Bissoondyal Singh stated at a press conference.

Earlier in the year, the Cricket West Indies (CWI) president indicated they too are hoping to put systems in place to bridge the glaring gap in the region between junior and senior cricket.

Meanwhile, weather and sponsorship permitting, the GCB is aiming to host numerous other tournaments in 2022, namely: Female Inter-County 50-over (home and away); Female Senior Inter-County Two-Day; Under-15 50-over (home and away); Under-17 50-over (home and away); Under-17 Two-Day, Under-19 Three-Day (home and away); Under-19 Inter-County 50-over (home and away); Franchise Under-19 50-over; National Secondary School 50-over; National Primary School 100-over; Senior Inter-County Four-Day; Senior Inter-County 50-over; National Club T20 or Franchise Cricket and Franchise 50-over to be played before Inter-County.