The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) will shortly launch another publication as it pushes ahead with plans to develop Berbice cricket further.
The pro-active board in November, will publish a 32-page booklet to highlight its outstanding work over the last three-and-a-half years since current president Hilbert Foster and his executive body was voted into office.
Foster, who was elected in a fierce contest in February, 2018, has led a complete overhaul of Berbice cricket.
The BCB president stated that his administration had no honeymoon period as Berbice cricket was on the verge of a total collapse when he took over.
He recalled that on the same day that he was elected, several sponsorships were secured including one from former West Indies Captain Ramnaresh Sarwan and current Guyana Cricket Board president Bissoondyal Singh.
Since then, the board has organised over 70 different cricket tournaments at all levels and raised over $50M worth of sponsorship in cash and kind, said Foster.
The tournaments were organised at the junior, senior and female levels while dozens of developmental programmes were also organised. The BCB also invested heavily into the educational career of hundreds of youths and assisted clubs/players with fifteen million dollars of items including cycles, uniforms, cricket gears, school bags and educational materials.
The success of the BCB, Foster states, lies in its ability to attract and maintain a large pool of sponsors and donors via an aggressive marketing and public relations campaign. Additionally, the board has worked very hard at been very transparent with every sponsor and all clubs in the county.
The publication of the 32-page booklet will serve as a review of the board and forms part of the board’s aggressive marketing drive over the next two years.
The booklet includes remarks from Foster, portraits of executives and patron Vickram Bharrat along with the main achievements of the BCB 2018 to 2021. Over 140 full-coloured photos will showcase the work of the board during the period under review.
Among the areas to be reviewed are winners of several tournaments, major sponsorship received, educational programme, coaching programme, assistance to clubs /players, community outreaches and the honoring of persons within the cricketing community.
Public Relations Officer Simon Naidu, who is the editor of the booklet, stated that they would be distributed free of cost across the country, the Caribbean and North America. He expressed thanks to the management of J’s Supermarket for their support especially Managing Director Jason Sripal.
Sripal, a former Berbice and Guyana junior cricketer stated that he was very impressed with the current state of Berbice cricket and expressed confidence in the leadership of Foster. He noted the importance of documenting the history of the game in the county for the next generation to build on the success of the current leadership. The supermarket has been one of the main supporters of the BCB over the past year and has sponsored several programmes and a cricket tournament for teams in New Amsterdam.
