Legendary fast bowler, Sir Andy Roberts is set to become the latest icon to appear as a special guest of the Berbice Cricket Board’s (BCB) coaching programme.
Roberts is regarded as one of the all-time greats of cricket and widely considered the father of modern-day fast bowling in the Caribbean.
Roberts retired in 1983 after the West Indies tour of India and since then has taken up several different roles off the field.
The visit of Sir Andy would be a continuation of the BCB’s county wide coaching programme with special emphasis being placed at the U13 to U19s.
Recently, the BCB hosted Sir Curtly Ambrose, a fellow Antiguan, for a fast bowling clinic.
BCB President Hilbert Foster said that the main objective of the massive and well-organized coaching programme is to identify the most promising players in the county and to make sure that they have all the opportunities to develop.
According to the BCB many youths have benefitted from intense training by the BCB panel of coaches headed by level three coach, Winston Smith over the last four years.
Special emphasis has been placed on batting, physical fitness, mental preparation, fast bowling, fielding, wicket keeping, off-spin, leg-spin and left-hand orthodox bowling.
To date, the BCB has hosted a series of very successful coaching clinics with former players Clyde Butts, Sheik Mohamed, Sean Devers, Reon King and Nolan McKenzie all conducting clinics this year.
Foster said that he was contacted by a close friend of Sir Andy and he readily agreed to the visit, which is scheduled to take place between April 20-24.
Widely considered as an encyclopedia on the game, Sir Andy is expected to have one-on-one sessions along with group sessions with Berbice top junior and senior players.
He will be assisted by a battery of local coaches including Smith, Travis Harcourt, Leslie Solomon, Delbert Hicks, Julian Moore and Balram Samaroo.
At the same time, Roland Butcher, who was the first African to play for England, would be conducting a batting clinic for about 40 Berbice batsmen.
Butcher, a close family friend of Foster, reportedly offered his services to the board saying he was very impressed by the high standards of its work.
Butcher played three test matches and three one-day internationals for England while scoring over 17000 runs at the first-class and 50-over level overall.
Roberts, fondly known as the “Hitman” played 47 test matches between 1974 to 1983. He took 202 wickets at an average of 25.6 and an economy rate of 2.67. He played in three World Cup Finals, helping the West Indies to win in 1975 and 1979.
