The 2008 New Building Society Limited (NBS) sponsored Berbice Cricket Board of Control (BCBC) second division limited overs cricket competition was launched at the Berbice branch of the sponsor Friday afternoon.
- Operations manager of New Building Society Limited Anil Beharry hands over the sponsorship cheque to vice president of the Berbice Cricket Board of Control Mark Lyght as executives and staff of both entities look on.
At a simple presentation ceremony, NBS Operations Ma-nager, Anil Beharry, stated how pleased the management and staff of NBS was to be associated with the BCBC in this venture which they have been doing for the past five years.
“At NBS, our mandate is to house the nation and we cater for every class of Guyanese both the rich and the poor. But we also recognizes the importance of sports particularly cricket as it is a unifying sport in our society in a country that is made up of various religious backgrounds. “We would like to see the development of sports throughout the country, thus we have thrown our sponsorship to the value of $500,000 into this second division competition that is being run under the supervision of the BCBC.
“Before I hand over this cheque, I would like to urge the BCBC to expedite this tournament in a timely and professional manner as they have done in times past” stated Beharry, who himself is an executive of the BCBC.
In accepting the cheque, vice president of the BCBC Mark Lyght said that his board felt honoured to be associated with NBS over the years and noted that they will do their best in running off the competition in a timely and professional manner.
The 40 overs-a side tournament will be played throughout Berbice.
Over 105 teams, an increase from 90 that participated in the inaugural tournament held in 2004, will compete in this year’s tournament.
The teams spanning the gamut from Upper Corentyne River to Canje Creek will be divided into 16 zones.
Rose Hall Community Centre (RHCC) are the defending champions in this year’s tournament, having defeated Bush Lot Sports Complex in the 2006 final.
The tournament was not played last year due to the weather, but according to chairman of the competitions committee, Carl Moore, this year’s competition was planned with the weather in mind.
“We waited for the weather to abate before we decided to run off this competition, as we did not want to be in the same boat weather wise as we were last year,” said Moore.
The winner of each zone will be awarded with a prize in some form and with teams such as West Berbice, Kildonan, Albion Community Centre, Port Mourant and Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports club slated to participate in this year’s tournament, defending champions RHCC can surely expect to be hard pressed to retain their championship.
September 14 has been set as the date of commencement for the tournament which will run into November when the finals will be played at a venue to be decided.