Rockaway Auto Sales stepped in Thursday to support the East Coast Cricket Board (ECCB) in running off a T20 tournament starting tomorrow.
The games will be held at grounds on the East Coast of Demerara and some 28 teams will be participating.
There will be eight first-division teams, which have been labelled Premier League teams and 20 second division teams, labelled Super League teams.
The competition is expected to run for the next month with the final likely to be held at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, under lights.
Manager of Rockaway Auto Sales, Vishnu Ramjeet, who is a member of Demerara defending T20 champions East Coast Carib Jaguars, said his company was pleased to be associated with East Coast cricket.
Ramjeet said that Jameel Ali, the owner of the enterprise which also builds music sets and runs a car rental, is a lover of cricket and is pleased to be associated with the development of the game and the youths.
In the earlier rounds of the competition players will use white clothes and the traditional red ball.
However, in the semi-final and final, the sponsors will be providing white balls and uniforms.
Rockaway is also the sponsor for the 35 and 40-over cricket competitions that are at present in the semi-final rounds. These finals will be played on October 10, the day after the T20 finals.
Bissoondial Singh, president of ECCB, thanked the sponsor for their interest over the years in the development of cricket on the East Coast.
“We recognize this wonderful partnership between the East Coast Board and Rockaway Auto Sales and at a time when good sponsors are hard to find this company continues to be a great corporate citizen. I encourage those in the East Coast Community to show their support from this business entity since a lot of our cricketers benefit from their involvement with us”, Singh urged.
Singh also lamented the problems that are plaguing cricket in Guyana while also complaining that too many of the cricket grounds on the ECD are being used for other activities such as grass track racing, fairs and other events. Singh also noted that these concerns were raised with Sport Minister Dr. Frank Anthony.
“Only 12 of the 26 grounds on the East Coast are operable and when we (EECB) try to raise funds to fix the other grounds, promoters organise car and bike shows and concerts and all sorts of events at the good grounds resulting in them being badly damaged. The Lusignan ground, one of our main cricket grounds, is a prime example of this,” he said.
“We have raised our concerns with those in control of the grounds and even the honorable Minister of Sports, Dr Frank Anthony, and it is hoped that action will be taken to have less activities that badly damage the cricket grounds and at times make them unavailable for cricket competitions since cricket provides an avenue for the enhancement and exposure of hundreds of youths on the East Coast,” Singh explained.
In tomorrow’s first round Premier League matches, Better Hope host Enterprise at 10:00hrs, Plaisance face LBI at Better Hope from 14:00hrs, Lusignan oppose Ogle at Lusignan from 10:00hrs and Buxton and Strathaven face-off at Strathaven.
The second round of the knock-out competition is slated for September 18.
Fixtures for the Super League matches tomorrow:
Mahaica vs Helena 1&2 at Stratevon from 14:00hrs
Lusignan Dev vs Rockaway at Lusignan from 14:00hrs.
Calcutter vs Beehive at Calcutter from 10:00hrs
Dundee vs Dutchfore at Calcutter from 14:00hrs
Fairfield vs Golden Grove B at Fairfield from 10:00hrs.
Unity vs Lions at Unity from 10:00hrs
Enmore vs Golden Grove A at Fairfield from 14:00hrs.
Enterprise B vs Lusignan B at Marshon from 10:00hrs.
Marshon vs Buxton B at Marshon from 10:00hrs
Cane Grove vs Mon Repos at Unity from 14:00hrs
