… President Ramotar promises assistance to rehabilitate grounds
HAVING made a promise to oversee the administration and organising of cricket competitions on the West Coast of Berbice, the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) yesterday made it a reality by partnering with insurance giant Hand-in-Hand Mutual Fire and Life Insurance Company. Addressing his audience at the brief presentation ceremony, BCB’s Public Relations Officer and head of the Special Events Committee, Hilbert Foster, said the tournament would be properly organised while promoting the sponsor like never before.
“There can be no doubt that cricket in Berbice is on the rise and is the role model of every cricket administrator in Guyana and to an extent, the Caribbean.
“Four years ago, cricket was in a backward slide in Berbice, but after careful and visionary planning, today we can safely say it has retained its rightful place of dominance and success. The hosting of close to 50 tournaments and over 250 off-the-field activities during this time is the result of hard work by the BCB,” stated Foster.
He added, “This year, where we have planned a record-breaking 22 tournaments at all levels and 80 off-the-field activities, the BCB would be placing special emphasis on the West Berbice areas which over the years have been neglected by a very inactive cricket administration.
“The BCB in its continued drive to achieve more development has decided to take matters into its own hands. We will be organising the area’s own two-day inter-zone tournament along with a T20 and 40 overs-a-side competition while a massive coaching programme is being implemented, inclusive of one-day cricket academies and clinics.”
The BCB yesterday received $220 000 from Hand-in-Hand, which will be used towards the organising of a 40-overs-a-side competition among 16 teams in the West Berbice area, including Blairmont, Bush Lot, Cotton Tree, Rosignol, D’Edward and Rainbow Generation.
The winner of the tournament will pocket $50 000 and a trophy while the runner-up team will receive $30 000 and a trophy and according to Foster, the BCB is confident that the tournament would not only be successful, but also fulfil its mandate to unearth new talents for cricket in the Ancient County.
Meanwhile, Foster said a delegation from the BCB met with President Donald Ramotar and outlined a few of their hiccups to him, to which the Head of State promised to not only assist with the rehabilitation of three cricket grounds in the Ancient County, including the Bermine and New Amsterdam Mental Hospital grounds, but also with sponsorship for their three-day tournament.
While stating that his Company was involved in sports in years gone by, outlining, cricket, boxing, bodybuilding, power-lifting and cycling as examples, Director and Fire Manager of the sponsor Howard Cox said the company was pleased to be associated with the BCB.
“There is no doubt that the BCB is being administered by a competent set of individuals and I must say that it is no strange territory for us to be associated with cricket, as we have done so with the now embattled Demerara Cricket Board, for 20-odd years.
“We believe that the BCB means well for cricket, especially when we look at the newspapers and see the number of activities they are engaged in, both on and off the cricket field and while we at Hand-in-Hand feel proud and privileged to be associated with the BCB, I wish to say that they can depend on us to assist in any small way that we possibly can.”
Marketing Consultant to the BCB, Bish Panday, a former Secretary of the embattled Guyana Cricket Board, said the sponsor readily agreed to sponsor the competition, doing so at very short notice and without hesitation.
“We have a role to play in getting cricket back to the state it was before. The sport is very close to me and I have no problem in helping develop the game and as we all know, when cricket does well, we are all happy and when it does not, we express the sorrow,” said Panday.
As he had done during the launching of the BCB Educational billboards programme at Ansa McAl two months ago, Panday challenged the BCB to have faster pitches for the batsmen and urged them to seek outside help in making this a reality.