TEAM Mohamed, of 29 Lombard Street, Werk-en-Rust, Georgetown, is the latest sponsor of the Demerara Cricket Board’s initiative “Friends of Demerara Cricket Fund”. This new initiative was launched recently. Team Mohamed is the fourth business entity to provide support, following Gafoors of Guyana, KW Logistics and Bus Services and Sunita Travel Agency.

The DCB will use the funds raised to cushion the cost of its junior Inter Association Cricket tournaments. Funds will also be used to assist in fulfilling its mandate to develop the game.

The DCB is aggressively embarking on playing cricket competitions at all levels, from Under-13 to Senior males and females. Training programmes for coaches and cricketers, seminars for managers, book, board and electronic scorers and match referees will be done. Academies for junior cricketers will also be held across the five Sub Associations.

At a simple but significant ceremony, held recently, Azruddin Mohamed, owner of the business, presented the cheque to DCB’s First Vice-president Puneet Jaigopaul, in the presence of other Executive Members of the Board. Mohamed disclosed that he was happy to contribute to cricket, particularly to young players.

Jaigopaul, in response, expressed his gratitude and indicated that the funds would be well accounted for. He added that the funds would be used to cover some of the cost of the DCB Inter Association Under-17 Cricket Tournament as requested by the sponsor. That tournament is expected to commence shortly. The DCB urges Guyanese to support Team Mohamed so that they can continue to contribute to the development of cricket in Demerara, Guyana and the West Indies.

Now that Team Mohamed is on board, the sponsorship has risen to $660,000.The DCB, while in negotiations with several sponsors, some of whose approvals have already been secured, recognises the limited sponsorship dollars available resulting in this innovation. The DCB encourages private individuals, private businesses, and Corporate Guyana to support this initiative and place Demerara cricket back to its former glory. According to the DCB, “we assure accountability for the funds with widespread print and electronic media coverage. It should be noted that sponsorship for sports and charitable organisations can enjoy tax breaks which the law allows.

The DCB release said that anyone willing to support this project can contact Bissoondyal Singh, club president, at 623 0055; Davteerth Anandjit, Secretary, at 617 8502; Vicky Bharosay, Treasurer, at 652 0947; Anil Beharry, Marketing Manager, at 623 6875 or any other Executive Member of the DCB.