Dear Editor,
In the Friday edition of the Stabroek News under his widely read week article “Frankly Speaking” Mr. Allan Fenty wonders out loudly if there was any other functioning cricket board in Guyana apart from the one in Berbice. He asked a question which every other cricket pundit has been asking for years and all of us in Berbice should be very proud of the remarkable work of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) over the last few years. Under the leadership of Keith Foster and Anil Beharry, the BCB laid the foundation for the success we have today. The BCB today is the role model cricket organisation in the Caribbean and our work on and off the cricket field is unmatched. Over the last twelve years, we have not received a single cent of subvention and yet we have succeeded despite great odds.
Every day, I am asked the question “How do you guys do so much”. The answer is simple – dedication, sheer hard work and a commitment to do better. We inherited an almost dead cricket board with no office, no formal handing over from the old executive body, only $43,000 in the bank account and no developmental programme in place. Thirty months after, we have started 62 new cricket tournaments, raised over $30M in cash and kind, dozens of developmental programmes implemented. We have a modern, self-reliant office while our clubs and young cricketers have benefited from over $10M worth of items.
As 2020 comes to a slow end, let us all commit ourselves to making 2021, the best since the BCB was founded in 1939. Believe it or not, there are still a few persons in the county, who are working behind the curtain for the old system to return. Mr. Fenty was correct to ask if there is another functioning cricket board apart from the BCB as the others exist only in name and just imagine that the GCB is full of the executives of these non-functioning boards. They do nothing but yet receive their annual subventions as rewards. Let all of us cricketers, club officials and board officials continue to put Berbice Cricket first and go forward to more greatness.
Yours faithfully,
Hilbert Foster
President/BCB
