The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) has described the year 2020 as highly successful despite the fact that the sport was only able to be played for the first three months of the year.
After the on-field season was halted in April, the BCB was able to achieve success off the cricket field through its charity work, coaching programmes, award ceremony, pro-educational campaign and investments in clubs and youth players.
Hilbert Foster, who was elected BCB President in February 2018, stated that the BCB has much to celebrate as it continued to work hard despite the pandemic.
Some 13 tournaments were either started or completed between January to March while several others are awaiting the restart of the cricket season to be completed.
Rose Hall Town Namilco Thunderbolt Flour defeated arch rivals, Albion Cricket Club to win the Busta Champion-of-Champions 40 overs and Ivan Madray T20 Cups in January. They also got past Tucber Park to win the Stag Beer 50 overs tournament.
Albion won the Raffik Construction 100 balls second-division and the Ramnaresh Sarwan Under-17 titles while Rose Hall Town Bakewell won the Lower Corentyne Let’s Bet T20 tournament.
Rose Hall Town Metro females lifted the 2020 Nand Persaud title while No. 73 won the BCB/Upper Corentyne Cricket Association/Trophy Stall Under-19 title.
The BCB/UCCA Inter Primary School tournament was won by No. 71 Primary School.
The Premium Asphalt/TR Construction T20 for teams in the Lower Corentyne area, which started in January, is at the finals stage while the Lewison’s General Store and Mike’s Pharmacy Under-15 tournaments are at the semi-finals stage respectively.
The BCB/UCCA Price is Right tournament is also at the final stage with Dukestown and No. 72 Cut and Load scheduled to battle for championship honors.
Other tournaments on hold due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic are the Banks DIH Ltd two-day and Friends of New Amsterdam T20 which are at the semi final stage, Let’s Bet Sport County Wide final and New Building Society 40 overs quarter finals.
The BCB also invested heavily in coaching and the hosting of several trial matches to select Inter County teams while overseas -based Guyanese, Dr. Tulsi Dyal Singh and Brian Ramphal sponsored a combined nine trial matches for the selection of the Berbice Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 teams.
A wide range of coaching clinics were held for fast bowlers, batsmen, spinners and wicketkeepers.
The BCB panel of coaches also visited over 20 clubs to conduct coaching sessions including No.73, Port Mourant, RHTYSC, Rose Hall Canje, Achievers, Mt. Sinai and Edinburgh.
The BCB, with support from the RHTYSC also invested heavily into the development of players with over 200 youths benefitting from donation of gear, uniforms, bicycles and educational materials under a wide range of programmes including the Basil Butcher Trust Fund, Dr. Tulsi Dyal/Puran Singh Fund, RHTYSC Patron Fund, BCB Patron Fund and Brian Ramphal Trust Fund.
Over 60 clubs benefitted from the donations of cricket balls with sponsorship from former Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, the Basil Butcher Trust Fund and the RHTYSC.
Clubs also benefitted from donations of scorebooks, laws of cricket books, facemasks, educational materials and stumps.
The BCB and the RHTYSC, also invested in the publication of educational posters, youth information booklets, COVID-19 posters and a Say No to Crime information sticker.
Some 69 youth cricketers received school bags while six outstanding cricketers, who did well at the CSEC, received a financial stipend of $10,000 each.
Former West Indies player Ramnaresh Sarwan donated a $100,000 coaching kit to the BCB to aid in the development of youth players.
Jerry Karim of Blairmont received the Brian Ramphal Father of the Year award while Veronica Cecil was named the Brian Ramphal Mother of the Year. The vibrant Upper Corentyne Cricket Association obtained 28 sets of coloured uniforms for its members from the popular businessman entity, Price is Right Supermarket. Former BCB President Anil Beharry also raised funds to obtain cricket pitch covers valued at $320,000 that is currently been stored at the Albion Ground.
An additional nine new cricket clubs were formed in 2020.
On the cricket field, Berbice Cricket had a lot to celebrate as Shemaine Campbelle became the fourth West Indian to play 100 T20I matches, Gudakesh Motie reached 100 first-class wickets in his 28th game, Shabika Gajnabi scored the first female double century at the Inter-County female level and Veersammy Permaul passed 500 first-class wickets, earning a welcome recall to the West Indies team.
Kevin Sinclair and Nial Smith made their first-class debuta for Guyana while Campbelle, Sheneta Grimmond and Kevlon Anderson represented the West Indies at the World Cup tournaments in Australia and South Africa respectively.
Romario Shepherd became the latest Berbician to score a first-class century when he blasted 133 against New Zealand ‘A’ for West Indies ‘A’.
Other highlights for 2020 included the induction of Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat as the board’s first Honorary Patron, the launching of Mortimer George’s book “Know Your Heroes”, the hosting of the Brian Ramphal Special Awards Ceremony and meetings with several key government ministers including Attorney General Anil Nandlall, Minister of Sports, Charles Ramson Jr., Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha and Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton.
The board also created history when it awarded its first ever educational scholarship to the University of Guyana with sponsorship from the Ministry of Agriculture. The year ended with a donation of $1.5M worth of cricket gear and uniforms from former West Indies opener Clayton Lambert.
The BCB also played a major role in the funeral arrangement of the legendary Basil Butcher by hosting a Night of Reflection at the Port Mourant Ground and co-Organising his funeral service.
The year 2020 also saw Berbice Cricket mourning the death of umpire Ganga Persaud Shivdyal and players Jerome Andrews and Sherwin Murray.
Foster hailed the cooperation of his executives, the Berbice Umpires Association, the Regional Democratic Council and sponsors of Berbice Cricket. Special mention was made of Ramphal, Dr. Dyal Singh, Dr. Puran Singh, Nand Persaud Co. Ltd, Minister Mustapha, Dr. Ramsammy, Shepherd, Hetmyer, Price is Right Supermarket, Ansa Mcal, Trophy Stall, Sarwan, 4R Bearings, Mike’s Pharmacy, Lewison General Store, Office of the Prime Minister, Busta, Raffik Construction, Chandradat Chintamani, Lambert ,Sarishwar Persaud among others. The board also said that it would like to acknowledge the contribution of the media especially Kaieteur News, Stabroek News, Guyana Chronicle, Guyana Times, DTV-8, LRTVS CH10, NCN, NTN and News Room.
