Territorial Development Officer (TDO) of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), Colin Stuart, says that the board is set to stage an Under – 19 Inter-County tournament in mid – January 2021 to allow players, who missed the 2020 edition of the tournament due to the ongoing pandemic, the opportunity to showcase their talent.
The 2020 edition of the Under – 19 Inter-County tournament was the only age group tournament to be derailed by the pandemic.
“The tournament is really to capture those players who didn’t get the opportunity to play in the 2020 Inter-County tournament and hopefully, we can earmark a few of them for further selection,” Stuart told Stabroek Sport.
He added: “The Under-19 tournament is important because of the gap between Under – 19 and Senior. Some players could be lost and we are trying to prevent that.”
Stuart also stated that the GCB was collaborating with regional partners to have either Barbados or Trinidad – tour Guyana next year to play against a select Guyana Under – 19 team following the stand in Inter-County Under – 19 competition.
Meanwhile, the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB), at the weekend, begun preparations for the 2021 Inter-County calendar after hosting a one-day practice session with over 50 Under-19 players to prepare for the proposed Inter-County tournament.
“The selectors [were] present at the two sessions [and] have cut the squad down to about 35 players. Once approved by the Chairman of Selectors, Mr. Balram Samaroo, the list of names shall be released,” a release from the BCB stated.
“A two days trial match would be held next week at the Albion ground to select the team. All Covid-19 guidelines were observed today and the BCB would make sure that the trial match does the same,” the Hilbert Foster led board added via the release.
