Minister of Natural Resources and Patron of the Berbice Cricket Board, Vickram Bharrat made a surprise visit to the Guyana Cricket Board/Hand-In-Hand U-19 Inter-County tournament yesterday where he presented Berbice opener, Rampertab Ramnauth, with a bat.
Port Mourant Cricket Club’s Ramnauth, is one of four Guyana players currently in the West Indies U-19 training squad.
In an exclusive interview with this publication, Bharrat explained that this was his way of giving back to Berbice, where he is originally from.
“First of all I have been appointed the Patron of Berbice Cricket Board and I know these youngsters at the Under-19 level, they would need some kind of motivation, some kind of support because being a Berbician myself, I know the situation in Berbice, I know the encouragement that is needed at this tender age,” he stated. Bharrat said that he has noticed the talent in Ramnauth, whose family he knows personally, adding that this was a nurturing process in order to see him fulfil his potential.
“We would have realized the young batsman has a lot of talent, having already been recognized by West Indies Cricket because he would have toured England at the Under-15 level so he is among the many bright prospects in Berbice cricket, somebody who I believe, we could nurture and ensure that he explores his full potential and talent and possibly make it up to West Indies so it is just a little way of motivating him,” Bharrat said.
This is the latest in a string of initiatives since being inducted as the Patron of the county board.
“Actually, it is not the first if I may say so. When I was inducted as Patron of the Berbice Cricket Board, I would have made a substantial donation to Berbice cricket. We started out with a million dollars and that was the first and we would have donated a lot of gear as well to the smaller clubs in Berbice so we could develop cricket in the other areas other than the Port Mourant, Albion, Rose Hall and New Amsterdam areas,” he disclosed.
Bharrat said that there will be a semi-professional league in Berbice later this year and they will be working to make it a success. The Natural Resources Minister disclosed that the gestures are part of his initiative to motivate and encourage children to push the boundaries both on the field and academically.
“I am trying to assist too in some other ways as possible and I am also trying to encourage, especially the ones in school or at school age to try and continue their schooling so I am trying to get some as regards to whoever needs to write their CXC examinations so they could be assisted financially to write their exams so they could focus on both and not cricket alone.
“We know that is a trend in Guyana where the young cricketers they neglect their education at the expense of cricket but we are trying to get them a bit more balanced now because you realize there is life after cricket and they would have to prepare for that and there is no guarantee that everybody would make it into West Indies cricket so there must be a Plan B and that Plan B should be education so at the same time I am encouraging them to do well on the cricket field I am also encouraging them to do well in education.”
