… Singh lauds another significant initiative step in Youth Cricket Development

THE Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) in collaboration with the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) will participate in a bilateral Regional Under-13 Tournament scheduled for Guyana from December 10 to 17, this year.

This Inter-Regional tournament is novel to Guyana and complements the Cricket West Indies (CWI) plans of two-year incremental development programmes.
Consequently, it is expected that the Under-13 players will be adequately exposed to competitive cricket which will facilitate their growth and development for future GCB’s two-year incremental development programmes such as the National Under-15, Under-17, and Under-19 training activities.

Currently, GCB has established structured cricket development activities for the Under-11, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19, and Senior levels. The Under-11 activities are conducted through the Republic Bank Five for Fun Cricket Development programme.

Additionally, GCB and Republic Bank are in the planning stages of initiating a national Under-23 Inter-Club tournament.
President of the GCB, Bissoondyal Singh, expressed delight at being able to positively engage the president of the TTCB, Azim Bassarath. Singh said “both Territorial Boards are keen on exposing our future professional cricketers at an early age to the highest competitive standards possible.

“We recognise the need for children to develop their art,:bowling, batting, and fielding in a fun-related manner. However, we strongly believe that players in the Under-13 age group can begin to challenge their minds a bit more than is currently being done. Learning cricket techniques is good but executing the respective skills in competitive environments will set the players on a greater path to success.”

Singh says, “This initiative paves the way for a Regional Under-13 tournament. We believe in promoting the training aspects of cricket so that players can inculcate the recommended practices for the game as well as a person.

“Our planned cricket academy which will cater to the needs of players aged seven to 17 is geared at making our players rounded cricketers. In addition to technical and skill development, our Academy will focus on areas of Cricket Laws, Scoring, Match Referee, Umpire duties and Etiquette including Personal Communication, Interviewing as a priority activity, and Psychology.”