By Marlon Munroe
The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) is intent on pushing its development plan to ensure that high cricketing standards are restored in the country at all levels.
GCB executives made this disclosure while informing media operatives yesterday in the boardroom of the GCB, of its plans to host the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) President’s Cup tournament.
That tournament is scheduled to start October 28 after Sunday’s Neal and Massy limited overs final and the GCB Twenty20 Cricket Festival on October 23 and 24.
All the tournaments will be staged at the National Stadium at Providence.
The GCB is also aiming to raise some $20 million to offset the expenses of coordinating those plans.
Moreover, the board will be assisting the county boards to run off their various tournaments especially in light of the economic downturn when sponsors are not easily persuaded to dole out funds.
The GCB’s first of many fund-raising ventures will be the cricket festival and Soca/Chutney show with the headliner being Trinidad & Tobago’s chutney sensation Ricky Jai.
The cricket festival will feature Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica and the United Chargers from the USA, captained by former Under-19 batsman Steve Massiah.
The first preliminary match of the festival will be played between Jamaica and the United Chargers at 14:00 hrs and the second match will be played between Guyana and Barbados from 18:00 hrs on October 23. The Jamaica and Barbados teams will be participating in the President’s Cup tournament and they will be in Guyana from October 21 until their departure at the end of the tournament based on some arrangements among the boards.
The team winning the festival will take home US$8,000 and the runner-up is guaranteed US$4,000. Third and fourth places will receive US$2,000 and US$1,000 respectively.
On the first day of the competition patrons will be required to pay $1,000 and on Saturday they will have to pay $1,500.
Marketing Officer of the GCB, Ramsey Ally, said that tickets will go on sale from Saturday and persons are being advised to buy tickets only from authorized ticket agents.
On the other hand, Berbice teams Albion Community Centre (ACC) and Rose Hall Town Windies Sports Bar (RHTWSB) will clash on Sunday at the stadium. The day/night fixture will begin at 14:00 hrs on Sunday and patrons, who do not have to pay to enter the venue, will have an opportunity to win gate prizes from the sponsors.
RHTWSB and ACC easily dispatched North Essequibo and Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) respectively. Narsingh Deonarine and Assad Fudadin were instrumental in their teams’ victories and they will be looking to continue their rich form in the final.
Meanwhile, the board is also working on running a national three-day first division club tournament. It is the board’s view that there is not enough three-day cricket being played in the country and batsmen are not getting a chance to develop an innings when they are only playing Twenty20 and limited overs cricket.
The tournament is scheduled to begin on October 24 and will run into next year where players can earn selection for the regional four-day championships. It was also announced that an under-15 limited-overs competition will begin November 17.
