During the last week, the Cricket West Indies (CWI) High Performance Unit (HP) paid the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/Harpy Eagles Franchise (GHE) a visit during which the two parties held a historic meeting.
The visit began on Sunday (November 26th) and continued to Tuesday (November 28th), with the CWI team visiting a number of facilities in the country.
The CWI HP team included Enoch Lewis, a CWI Director and Chairman of the CWI Cricket Committee; Graeme West, the HP Manager; Miles Bascombe, the newly appointed Director of Cricket; and Chris Brabazon, head of coaching education.
In a welcome meeting held on Monday at the GCB Office prior to the visits to the various facilities, GCB President Bissoondyal Singh expressed gratitude to the HP Unit for the initiative.
During the meeting, Singh also highlighted the Government of Guyana’s (GOG) plan to have a national academy as soon as the indoor facility at the Guyana National Stadium (GNS) is completed. He further echoed the vision of Guyana’s President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, which includes the MacKenzie stadium in Linden, the Anna Regina stadium in Essequibo, and the Palmyra stadium in Berbice.
Those stadiums, when complete, are expected to boast state-of-the-art features that will further add to the honing and development of Guyana’s cricket. The Berbice Stadium, when done, will seat a whopping 10,000 spectators, adding to the ranks of venues like the famous National Stadium in Providence.
The HP Unit’s visit to Guyana is part of a developmental plan where the committee is scheduled to visit each franchise in the region to meet with the territorial boards (TB) and/or franchises to overlook training sessions and visit training facilities used regularly.
The CWI delegation included Singh and other officials from the GCB, which included the GCB Chief Executive Officer Claude Raphael, GCB Chairman of the Senior Selection Panel Ramnaresh Sarwan, Cricket Operations Manager Anthony D’Andrade, Head Coach Ryan Hercules, and Assistant Coach Garvin Nedd. Physiotherapist Angelica Holder and Strength & Conditioning Coach Jaryl Moore visited the facilities that are used regularly by the GHE players.
The Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground, the Guyana National Stadium, the Fitness53 gym, and the LBI hostel were the facilities that were inspected.
