Essequibo to get Cricket Hostel

May 20, 2008 Sports

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Guyana’s first indoor facility to be in region two

By Sean Devers

The future could be bright for cricket in Essequibo…. even if it rains!

Come October of this year, Guyana’s largest but least populated County should have this country’s first indoor cricket facility and a 14-room Cricket Hostel in the Essequibo Coast Town of Anna Regina.

The signing of the agreement between the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and Region Two Contractor Dharam Ragh and the handing over of an advance payment off $5 Million to the Contractor was done yesterday at the GCB secretariat at Bourda.

Ragh built the Amerindian Dormitory in Region One and executed the Stanford project at the Anna Regina ground where a Sight-Screen and Media Centre was built. Ragh said he has taken into account the rainy season when he set 20 weeks from next Monday as the time he needs to complete the $30 Million project which should play a pivotal role in the improvement of Essequibo’s cricket.

GCB President Chetram Singh disclosed that funding for the project came from the $40 Million the GCB received when Guyana won the inaugural Stanford 20/20 tournament two years ago.

The GCB top man revealed that penalties if the deadline for completion is not met are inked in the contract and assured that his Board will be monitoring the work. Technical Consultants Marcel Gaskin & Associates has been hired to oversee the project.

The Hostel will be built on a piece of land (donated to the Essequibo Cricket Board by the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) Region Two) just outside the Northern end of the Anna Regina ground and according to Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) President and GCB Vice-President Alvin Johnson, an indoor and outdoor practice facility will be built in the compound of the Hostel.

Singh also disclosed that two other Hostels and practice facilities will be built in the near future; at LBI on the East Coast of Demerara and at Albion in Corentyne, Berbice.
“We (GCB) will be building an indoor cricket facility at the LBI ground and that will commence as soon as all the legal work is tied up. GUYSUCO is on the verge of signing off the ground to the Cricket Board,” Singh explained.
Singh said the Essequibo Hostel will be of tremendous help to the development of cricket in Essequibo and Guyana since the facility will give the GCB the chance to further decentralize cricket in Guyana.
“The cost of accommodation is a major problem when we take matches to outlying areas and having Hostels in all three counties will give us the opportunity to play more cricket in Berbice and Essequibo. Because of the high cost we have had to play the youth Inter-County tournaments in Demerara. Having youth Inter-County and even three-day first division matches between teams from different counties in places like Essequibo and Berbice will go a long way in generating more interest for the game right across Guyana,” Singh stated.
Johnson, who has had to battle among several other constraints, the large geography of Essequibo when administrating cricket in that County, said he was elated with the signing and informed that when completed, the Hostel will afford the ECB the opportunity to organise elite camps for the County’s best cricketers.
Johnson, based in Parika on the East Bank of Essequibo, has been working very hard to have the ECB hold county trials and do preparatory work in Region Two despite limited funding and feels that the Hostel and practice facility will mean much more cricket for Essequibo’s players which should see a marked improvement in the County team’s standard of play in the not too distant future.
“We will have both turf and concrete pitches at the back of the Hostel and since the practice area will have a roof, the players can practice their art all year round, even during the rainy season,” Johnson said.
Singh said that the practice facility can also be used by clubs and players in Essequibo once approval for its use is done in a structured manner.
Secretary of the GCB Bish Panday, who was among the GCB executives witnessing the signing of the agreement, said that having such a facility in Essequibo was a dream of his for a long time and opined that when it is completed it will not be a day too soon for Essequibo’s Cricket.
“We often talk of Essequibo’s performance but if some of the other areas had as much constraints due to the size of the country, they too might have found it harder to attain the level of success that they enjoy. Despite the few problem we faced in getting all the details right, I am very passionate about this project and commend everyone involved for getting it off the ground.
I hope it is completed on time and the GCB will be checking on the work of the Contractor regularly. This is something the Essequibo Board really deserve,” Panday said.
Unlike Barbados and Trinidad, Guyana, on the South American Mainland and badly affected by rain, does not have an indoor cricket facility and apart from the money the GCB and ECB is expected to save from having access to the Hostel, the indoor practice pitches in Essequibo should prove critical as the ECB implement developmental programs to lift Essequibo’s cricket out of the doldrums and make it a truly competitive force at the National level.
Construction has started, the Essequibo cricketers are anxiously awaiting the use of Guyana’s first indoor nets and the entire Guyana is monitoring the progress of a fantastic GCB initiative funded by the Stanford 20/20 money.

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