The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) under the leadership of Hilbert Foster, continues to work behind the scenes as it seeks to develop cricket in the ancient county despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The board, Thursday last, handed over cricket gear to 20 young cricketers drawn from across Berbice as part of its youth development programme.
The donation included batting gloves, batting pads, wicketkeeping pads, wicketkeeping gloves and helmets.
Players were drawn from clubs such as Albion, Port Mourant, Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club, Rose Hall Canje and others. Foster stated that the donation was part of an effort to assist players to fulfill their talent in spite of their financial situation at home.
He added that finance for the project was made possible from funds donated to the BCB early in 2020 by Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh and Dr Puran Singh, two overseas-based Guyanese.
According to Foster, Dr Tulsi Dyal had sponsored a comprehensive coaching programme for young players but that programme was placed on hold in the latter part of March while his brother Dr Puran Singh, had supported the annual National Players stipend scheme where every Berbice player who gained selection to the national team at the junior and female level would receive $10,000.
The Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh coaching programme has been on hold for five months after a busy first three months at the start to the year said Foster.
The programme was responsible for the preparation of the Berbice U-15, U-17 and female teams and also the hosting of several trial matches to select the best possible teams.
Several coaching clinics were also organised while visits were made to over 20 clubs for coaching sessions with their members, Foster reported.
The financial scheme never got off the ground for 2020 as all the Cricket West Indies tournaments have been cancelled, he said.
As such, Foster said that the BCB decided to invest the funds in assisting promising players who have the potential to develop into national under-15 players in 2021.
Foster handed over the gear to three of the players at a simple presentation ceremony at the Area H Ground and stated that the BCB would continue to invest in young players as the board intends to make sure that the legacy of Rohan Kanhai and Basil Butcher live on.
He urged the players to remain focused and to continue training at home. He stated that once the pandemic was over, the BCB would hit the ground running with numerous junior and female tournaments while the coaching sessions would be expanded in 2021.
The 2020 Dr Tulsi Dyal coaching sessions are set to restart in October with strict guidelines due to the corona virus crisis.
BCB Head Coach Winston Smith would be visiting clubs to conduct sessions with groups of ten players below the age of 10.
Clubs to be visited include RHTYSC, Albion, Port Mourant, Rose Hall Canje, Blairmont, Achievers and Edinburg. Plans will be put into place for the checking of players temperature, social distancing and washing of hands etc.
The BCB also shared 150 food hampers as part of the programme with each of the players receiving one while several clubs also received several hampers compliments of the Singh brothers for distribution to their membership.
The board in partnership with the RHTYSC has shared out over 5300 food hampers to less fortunate families across Berbice while over a total of 142 youth cricketers have so far benefitted from donations of cricket gears in 2020 with more to receive later.
The BCB President hailed the Singh brothers as dedicated supporters of the county cricket and pledge that as long as he remains the head, Berbice cricket would continue to be the beacon of game in Guyana.
