The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) has received $700,000 compliments from the Lower Corentyne Secondary School (LCSS) Alumni Association of NY, which will go towards the development of youth cricket in that county.
The members of the association are Chris Lachman, Radha and Howie Bernstein, Indrani Chabinath, Ceceilia Vasconcellos, Shirley Brijlall, Pamilla Jairam, and Riaz Bacchus. They approved the funding after being approached by Anil Beharry, a former long-serving executive of the BCB and former student of LCSS.
According to a release from Beharry, the funds will go towards “BCB’s under-15 and under-17 Inter Zone competitions. These competitions will be used to select and prepare the teams for the 2025 GCB Inter County Championships. The format, for the first time, will be made up of five teams with the traditional Upper Corentyne, Central Corentyne, New Amsterdam/Canje, West Berbice, and the addition of the President’s 11, exposing more young cricketers”.
In the statement, it was revealed that the tournaments will be played on a round-robin basis, with the team with the most points crowned champions. Thereafter, the winning team will take on the “best of the rest” in a feature game with the aim of identifying the best players in the county. To this end, corporate Guyana, private businesses, and clubs in the respective zones were approached to sponsor a game each to cushion the cost of the tournaments.
Additionally, the BCB has also re-launched its “Friends of Berbice Cricket” project. The funds from that project will see the return of the longer versions of the game where youth and female cricket will take priority. The BCB is aggressively engaging corporate Guyana, businesses, and private individuals for assistance in making the return of three-day, 50 overs first division cricket and forty overs second division cricket possible.
At a simple ceremony held recently, USA-based Guyanese Romash Munna, former executive of the BCB, handed over the cash to BCB President Dr. Cecil Beharry. Munna wished the board well and thanked the sponsor for coming on board. Cecil Beharry was very grateful for the assistance and promised to make sure that these competitions run efficiently and are result-orientated. He also said that the board will try its best to play the longer formats at each level.
