Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Dr. Frank Anthony as part of his feature speech at the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) 75th anniversary, called on Guyanese to ‘Take a page out of the book of the past,” in order to reignite the passion for cricket which has seemingly faded over the years.
“Berbice has been passionate for cricket, we must take a page out of the book of the past, we need to see the passion returning,” said the minister whose plea was made at Sunday’s BCB 75th Jubilee celebrations held at the St Francis Training Center, Rose Hall, Berbice where himself, along with other members of parliament and BCB executives acknowledged the board’s sterling work to produce the country’s best past and future West Indian cricketers.
Dr. Anthony congratulated the board for reaching its monumental milestone and lauded the hard work done over the years which produced some of the West Indies finest players of the past as well as the upcoming batch of future stars.
“Through cricket we can tell the world how we play,” he declared while adding that attention must also be paid to the mentors of these players both past, present and future.
During his brief speech Minister of Agriculture Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who hails from the ancient county said…. “Berbice cricket to Guyana is as important as rice and sugar. Cricket is a way not only to develop ourselves but our community as well.” He said he believed that Berbice cricket is the pillar of Guyana’s cricket and declared that for the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to disregard the BCB is to disregard Guyana.
Regional Chairman #5 Bindrabhan Bisnauth thanked the board for its overwhelming support shown to the West Berbice area and hoped that the good work will continue in the future while BCB President Keith Foster said he was very “humbled and privileged” to be president and the rich history that the clubs represents while he hopes that the club can continue to produce players that make Guyana proud.
He also called for players from Berbice and Guyana as a whole to cement their place in the West Indies cricket team as the past legends and ex-Berbice cricketers did in the past. Head of the BCB Special Events Committee Hilbert Foster promised to continue the good work which he began back in 2009 and called for a stronger unification among the Berbicians involved in cricket.
Former West Indies batting great Basil Butcher who was honored by the BCB for his contributions to Berbice and West Indies cricket, during his brief speech called out for President Donald Ramotar to help change the state of cricket in Guyana. “Mr. President, we want cricket to go right”.
Among the list of person honored by the club were; Butcher, Rohan Kanhai, Alvin Kalicharran, Milton Pydana, John Trim, Assad Fudadin, Devendra Bishoo, Veerasammy Permaul, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Narsingh Deonarine, Mahendra Nagamootoo while BCB executives Malcom Peters, Albert Smith, Hubern Evans, Carl Moore Angela Haniff and others were honored by the board for the outstanding work done over the years.
