THE outstanding work of the Hilbert Foster-led Berbice Cricket Board on Saturday 6th of November would receive a massive boost when the second edition of the BCB Patron Fund is launched.

BCB Patron, Minister Vickram Bharrat and club president Hilbert Foster is expected to launch the Fund during a special social skills seminar for youth cricketers at the New Amsterdam Secondary School.

Minister Bharrat was last year inducted as the first ever Honorary Patron of the board and hosted the first edition of the Patron Fund.

A total of thirteen youth players received two hundred thousand dollars’ worth of cricket gear while the board’s cricket development programme received a million dollars under the 2020 edition.

The Patron committed two million dollars for the fund in 2021 as he congratulated Foster on the outstanding work of the board despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the 2021 edition, the eleven first division teams in the county would receive one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of white balls for the upcoming season.

Foster stated that the combined $1.1 Million dollars’ worth of balls would assist the clubs a great deal as the costs of balls has climbed rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The clubs that will receive the balls are West Berbice, Blairmont, Police, Tucber Park, Rose Hall Canje, Young Warriors, Albion, RHTYSC, Port Mourant, Skeldon and Upper Corentyne.

The BCB has plans to host at least five tournaments at the senior level whenever the National Task Force grants permission for a restart at the 20/20, 40-Overs, 100 balls, 50 overs and two days levels.

Distribution of the balls would be done in late November.

Four hundred thousand dollars would be invested into the BCB Patron Educational Grant programme.

Twenty junior players would receive a grant of twenty thousand dollars to assist them to obtain educational materials for school. Foster and his executives have invested heavily into the educational careers of youths with hundreds of junior players receiving grants to assist their pursuit of an educational background.

Each cricketer would receive a voucher to uplift the items from a popular stationery store.

The final part of the 2021 Patron Fund would be the hosting of four social skills seminar across the county.

The seminars are the brainchild of Minister Bharrat and would be held in the four sub associations of West Berbice, New Amsterdam/Canje, Lower Corentyne and Upper Corentyne.
Each of the seminars would involve forty under-19 players and would be conducted by graduate students of the University of Guyana Social Works class.

Among the topics to be covered would be table manners, public speaking, drug abuse, suicide, peer pressure, personal manners, how to handle your finance , importance of discipline, importance of education and importance of religion.

The BCB Patron and president both agreed on the importance of the county producing not just outstanding cricketers but also all- round individuals who would be sports ambassadors for the country.

Foster has also indicated that all players selected to represent the county in the future would also have to be involved in these sessions as part of the BCB comprehensive development programme.