THE inaugural Beharry Group of Companies Schools T20 League enters its playoff stage this weekend, with the top sides from each zonal final set to battle for honours.
The eight playoff T20 school sides will bowl off their national campaign on Sunday, August 9, at the Queen’s College ground.
Group Marketing Manager of the Edward B. Beharry Group of Companies Malissa Sylvester, on Thursday at the Ministry of Education ground presented the top teams with uniforms to compete in the playoff.
She told the student athletes present that, “It was important for us to tap into the talent that is available not just in Georgetown which gets all of the attention but we know historically a lot of Guyanese talent from the national team come from the hinterland region so we will continue to do our best to ensure that we give all of this talent the visibility and the opportunity to display their talent and to be recognised for it and open up opportunities for you to go beyond.”
She commended the organisers for improvising with the challenging weather conditions, which allowed the competition to continue progressing.
The Unit of Allied Arts is collaborating with the Petra Organisation to stage the tournament.
Head of the Unit, Nicholas Fraser, says this competition has been on the cards for some time, and a lot of energy and investment has gone into it.
“In terms of its importance, everybody agrees that having a competition for what is the most popular sport in Guyana; we should have a schools’ competition for cricket. It is something that Guyanese live for. Traditionally, we have been doing well, so it made sense for us to do; getting it done is another thing so we are very pleased to be working with an organisation such as Petra and the sponsorship has helped us to overcome a lot of hurdles and allowed us to get to this point.”
Tournament Coordinator, Azizi Christiani, says the team has worked hard to reach this stage; now they need to work harder to advance to the finals.
“The final is scheduled to be played on the 23rd of August 2026; all of the knock-out matches. The ground is yet to be decided based on the team that will be in the playoffs, where the final will be played will be dependent on who is in the final. We are looking at taking the final to a ground closer to one of the teams in the finals to have home support for one of the teams.”
The top schools set to feature in the playoff are Queen’s College, Abram Zuil Secondary, Essequibo Islands Secondary, Covent Garden Secondary, St. Stanislaus College, Annandale Secondary, West Demerara Secondary and Berbice Educational Institute.
The organiser and sponsors say the aim of the first-of-its-kind countrywide competition is to identify grassroots cricketing talent and provide a platform for their exposure, growth and development.
They are seeking to create a pathway for new and emerging talent to transition to national and regional teams at all levels.
