By Colin Bynoe Jr.

THE Guyana Chronicle sought the views of several Berbicians on the status of cricket in the ancient county while persons also took the time to give their vision for the sport there.
Below are the views expressed by the man in the street?

TAMESHWAR MOHABIR (teacher) “Berbice Cricket over the last five years was stagnant. There was a limited amount of cricket competitions, coaching and development workshops and generally cricket-related events. As a result of this, many persons, particularly the youths at the under 15, 17, 19 levels, ventured into other sports such as football, basketball etc where there was a continuous flow of activities.” He added, “First of all, since the implementation of the new BCB administration, there has been many cricket

programmes/ competitions running off and also there has been many corporate sponsors returning. It is my hope that this can continue and extend way into the future. I hope it’s not just a one off/limited time something. Also, I would like to see more coaching programs being held so as to educate persons on the basics of cricket. In addition, there should be incentives, be it award ceremonies, contracts etc, to reward deserving players. The BCB should also work in collaboration with the MOE and other NGO’s to tackle social ills such as

suicide, drug abuse etc which is prevalent among our young people as well as adults. They should try to show people that sports, in particular cricket, are a way out of those social ills. Also, it is my hope that there is incisiveness at all levels of cricket in Berbice and that all the relevant parties are involved in making decisions and plans for the betterment of Berbice cricket. Finally, I would like to say that I hope societal ills such as racism, politics, and prejudice, among others, should not be displayed at the administrative level as well as

all other levels of Berbice cricket”. Mohabir continued, “I forgot to mention this, the BCB should also place emphasis on the development of female cricket in the county as part of a women empowerment scheme. And also it is my dream that the BCB work on establishing a school boy’s team to send to Barbados to participate in the Garfield Sobers International Schools cricket tournament. A few years back, myself along with Andre Williams, the coach of the Multi Royals team, would have proposed this idea to some officials of the then BCB, but it wasn’t heeded”.

KARL VANIER (teacher): “With respect to cricket in Berbice, I would say it has been up and down more or less; they have not been the usual dominance that we have displayed. I would say the performance have dropped and there has been less cricket played and too many administrative squabbles, too many personalities not really wanting the best for Berbice cricket but they have been focusing more on personal gain”.

“I would like to see all stakeholders working together, and it’s good to see that all the sponsors giving full support to the present administration that was elected. That is excellent because we depend greatly on sponsors to ensure money is pumped into the game and therefore kudos to all the sponsors that have come on board and placed their total confidence into the present administration. But I want to see all those who have cricket at heart, even those who loss out in the elections, to work together because I think you have many brilliant minds there, but they need to put their differences aside. In

addition, I would like to see greater emphasis to be placed on fitness, because fitness is quite important. I would like to see practice sessions being more structured. Very often I would have observed only the senior players are given the opportunity to bat for long periods and the other players are not allowed to do so. If a technical deficiency is seen in a particular player, that player should be given more time during the net session. If a player is weak against off spin and leg spin bowling, they should be able to face a lot of that bowling to overcome that weakness. If that is done, I believe that our players would perform better”.

JAVED SAYWACK (Regional Sports Officer, Region 5): “With the way Berbice Cricket Board is heading, I believe cricket have a long way to go with this current administration, because the twenty-two competitions that they have planned for the year is the most cricket we have seen for a very long, long time. One of the things I would like to see more

competition in is the intermediate section where more of our junior players would be expose. In the near future I would like to see younger players in First Division cricket (under 25 years). As it relates to the administration, I would like to see this current administration serve for more than one term. Because due to the fact in one year, less than six months we got 22 competitions; who knows what the rest of time holds for them. I believe they have a long way to go”.

JUNIOUR BLAIR “OK …… my opinion of the state of cricket in Berbice is that cricket and cricketers altogether suffered tremendously because of poor communication, lack of commitment ( on both the players and Berbice Cricket Board) and the poor level of sponsorship from private sector. However, I really applauded the work done so far by the Berbice Cricket Board under Mr. Foster leadership, but I must say that there must be careful planning and proper execution of functions by the executive body”.
RYAN ALGU (teacher): “Over the last five years, cricket has been at a standstill with a number of tournaments started and not completed.
I want to see school cricket played at every level, so as to get the youth excited about cricket again”.

DEBRA SAYWACK (clerk): “Am…. for the past few years, I think this present administration is the best thing that happen to Berbice Cricket. What I would like to see is more females from the West Berbice being included and a little bit more cooperation from the West Berbice Cricket Association to help the young generation more into the cricket. And I would like to see them in Administration for the next 5-6 years, because they have been doing good so far for the time they’re in and I know they can do more”.