Hilbert Foster was yesterday unanimously voted back as president of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) when the body held its Annual General Meeting at the BCB’s Office, Charlotte Street, New Amsterdam.
Headmaster of Winifred Gaskin Memorial Secondary School, Imran Ally, functioned as the Returning Officer.
There were 31 of the 38 delegates present. Four delegates from the West Berbice Cricket Association along with one from the Berbice River Cricket Association (BRCA) and one delegate each from Blairmont Community Center Cricket Club and Port Mourant Cricket Club were absent.
Foster was nominated by Malcolm Peters and seconded by a representative from the BRCA. Despite only one person being nominated for the post, Ally opted to continue with the voting process which saw Foster securing all 31 votes.
Also returning to their respective posts were Vice-President Albert Smith and second Vice-President, Qualis Winter, with 31 and 30 votes respectively.
Rabindranuath Saywack secured the post of third Vice-President while Angela Haniff, Ameer Rahaman, Dr Cecil Beharry and Rovin Bahadur got the go ahead from 30 voters for the respective positions of Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer.
One person abstained from voting for those positions.
Foster, in his remarks, urged the body to be more visible in the new year and asked that everyone work together to help further develop Berbice cricket.
“If you think you see progress, you haven’t seen anything yet,” quipped Foster, using a quote made popular by former president of the United States Ronald Regan.
Foster also expressed his displeasure with the umpires whose fees accounted for the largest percent of expenses for the year.
Earlier, during the meeting members present were told the financial records of the year were with the auditing firm, Eclisar Financial and Professional Services and will be presented in two months. A simplification of the financials were presented and the body voted to defer the presentation of the financial report in two months at and Ordinary General Meeting.
Also coming out of the meeting was a promise to introduce the payment of players in at least one tournament while Shabeer Baksh recommended more emphasis be placed on the youth levels.
Foster promised the construction of an all-weather facility and said the board will lobby Cricket West Indies for the return of First-Class cricket to the County.
The BRCA suggested the formation of a first-division team and Foster informed the gathering that three second-division could move up to the first-division.
The second division will have 60 teams and the third-division, 30.
