–Clyde Butts to be remembered

PRESIDENT Irfaan Ali is scheduled to give the feature address on February 29 at a Castellani House cocktail reception, which will start a week of activities to honour the history-making Guyana cricket team which became the first regional side to win both the First-Class and 50-over tournaments in 1983.
Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, Guyana’s Ninth Executive President, and his government has played a pivotal role in the development of sports and sports facilities across Guyana, through it’s Sports Ministry.

The 43-year-old President is a very competent ‘Tape Ball’ batter, and a massive cricket fan whose government got the CPL franchise league to hold three consecutive semi-finals and finals in Guyana with this year being the last year of that deal.
The Organising Committee is headed by Major General (ret’d) Norman McLean, who served as GCB President at the time.

The events will run from February 29 to March 3, and includes a memorial match for the late Clyde Butts, who was a member of the 1983 Guyana team and died last December at age 66.
Sir Clive Hubert Lloyd led Guyana to the first ever ‘double’ in regional cricket, winning both the Shell Shield four-day and the Geddes Grant Harrison Line 50-overs titles in 1983.
Lloyd is widely regarded as one of the greatest captains of all time, having led West Indies to the first two ICC Cricket World Cups in 1975 and 1979.

The 79-year-old Lloyd, also an ICC Match Referee, is expected to arrive in Guyana on February 26, while several members of the 1983 team are expected to be in Guyana for the event.
Butts, who died in a road accident, played seven Tests and 87 First-Class games, taking 270 Regional First-Class wickets for Guyana with off-spin.
Butts’ First-Class career spanned from 1983 to 1994, and he was also a Coach and West Indies selector.

A memorial match for Butts will be played on March 3 at a ground in Georgetown, which will be announced shortly.
Three members of that team, including Butts, have since passed away.
Roy Fredericks, (the sports Minister of Guyana) was the Manager but came out of retirement to become the only ever Government Minister to score a First-Class double century.

He made 217 against Jamaica at Bourda, before he died in September 2000 at age 57.
Another member of that team to have died was Andrew Lyght, who was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in the mid-90s.
The tumor was removed, but a few years later, it was discovered that the cancer had spread to other parts of his body.

After various treatments in England, he returned to Guyana, and adopted a Rastafarian lifestyle in his battle against cancer.
Lyght, who made six centuries and eight fifties in 38 First-Class games between 1976 and 1988, died in April 2001 at age 44.

Activities:
Cocktail Reception – Castellani House – 29th February, 2024
Reunion Dinner – Princess Hotel – 1st March, 2024.
Trip to Hampton Court – Essequibo – 2nd March, 2024
Clyde Butts’ Memorial 20-over Cricket – 3rd March, 2024