… Minister Dharamlall hailed for cooperation

THE Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) with the cooperation of Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall, last Tuesday launched another coaching programme for youths across the Ancient County.

The programme is expected to be a twelve-month pilot project with a total of 18 cricket coaches/trainers being involved in the county’s most ambitious coaching venture.
BCB president Hilbert Foster, who is spearheading the project, stated that the main objectives are to provide regular coaching to youths, to work early on technical problems, to unearth new talents and to provide additional coaching to the most promising talents.

The coaches would be under the supervision of Level Three coach, Winston Smith, and would include Leslie Soloman, Delbert Hicks, Tremayne Smartt, Ameer Rahaman, Seon Hetmyer, Travis Hardcourt, Balram Samaroo, Lackram Lathman and Junior Blair.

The coaches would be required to work 80 hours per month and Foster stated that 14 of them have started to work in Region Six at venues including Rose Hall Canje, New Amsterdam, Rose Hall Town, No73, Skeldon and Port Mourant.

Coaching in Region Five will start shortly, as soon as some paperwork is finished to sign up the coaches. The BCB, with the assistance of Minister Dharamlall, has attracted some sponsorship and the funds would be used to purchase the necessary items that the coaches would need including flannel and hard balls.
BCB has already provided several coaching aids to the coaches and some more, including catching cribs, would be handed over shortly.

Foster disclosed that the first phase of the project would target members of clubs with junior sections and when schools reopen in September, coaches would visit both primary and secondary schools, in the most comprehensive coaching programme in the history of Berbice.
He stated that last year, BCB had set itself a target of producing 10 players for the West Indies at all levels in five years and has produced six so far and is confident that the target would be achieved before in 2023.

Head doach Winston Smith stated that the coaches were delighted at the positive attitude of the players and hailed the BCB for organising the project. Smith predicted that many promising players would emerge from the project over the next 12 months. Special emphasis has been placed on batting, fast bowling, spin bowling, wicket-keeping and general fielding.

BCB will shortly hand over millions of dollars worth of cricket gear, balls and uniforms to 23 secondary schools in the county before several inter-zone tournaments are organised.
Tournaments will be played in four sub-zones – New Amsterdam/Canje, West Berbice, Lower Corentyne and Upper Corentyne. The winner from each zone would then move on to play a grand Berbice final .Foster expressed profound thanks to Minister Dharamlall for his cooperation in providing employment for the coaches and for his advice in coming up with the structure of the programme.

Foster had met the minister at his Kingston, Georgetown office and he readily agreed to assist.
The new project would join the Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh coaching and mini academies in the BCB Developmental Programme.