Sixth Busta Essequibo Cricket Festival launched

Aug 21, 2008 Sports

More matches, locations for this year’s tourney

By Sean Devers
The launching of the sixth annual 50-overs Busta Essequibo Cricket Festival was held yesterday at the Guyana Beverage Inc.

Head Office in Diamond and it was disclosed that more matches and more locations will make this year’s eight-team tournament bigger than ever before.

The competition commences tomorrow with four matches in two zones and climaxes with the grand finale which is set for the Anna Regina ground in Region two.

President of the Essequibo Cricket Board Alvin Johnson informed that the top two teams from each zone will advance to the final as the teams aim to dethrone defending champions South Essequibo.

“This is our best sponsor and this year the competition has a different flavor with seven of the eight Area Associations hosing matches this year after all of the matches in the previous competition were played in one location (Essequibo Coast),” Johnson explained.

The competition will last for five days instead of three as was the case last year and Johnson informed that because of the budget, Bartica is the only Area Association that will not host a match this year.

“After last year’s tournament we expressed some concern that all of the games were played on the Coast and after talks with Mister (Robert) Selman it was agreed that the competition will be increased from seven to 15 matches and venues outside of Region three will be used,” Johnson added.

The two semi-finals are set for the Queenstown ground and the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) on August 30 before the final is played the next day in Anna Regina.

Johnson explained that while the Anna Regina ground is being used for CARIFISTA activities, the relevant authorities has promised that the ground will be cleaned up and ready for cricket by August 30.

The Busta competition will be used to select the Essequibo squad to participate in the El Dorado Inter County 50-overs competition which should start early next month and Selman, the CEO of SM Jaleel, the manufacturers of the Busta soft drink, the Trinidad based company, is very pleased with the professional manner the competition has been organised by the Essequibo Cricket Board.

“We are pleased with the way this competition has been run. If we were not we would not be here again to offer more sponsorship. Next year we intend to put $1.5 million into the competition and get Bartica involved as a host.

We are also looking at the idea of sponsoring a separate 20/20 competition to help prepare the Essequibo players for this type of cricket. $1.3 million has been pumped into this year’s competition.”

Johnson said that this is an important competition for the Essequibo players since it is the only one that involves all of the areas.

“We have not done well at the inter-county level and we hope that from this competition we can produce quality players that will ensure Essequibo can compete against the other counties.

We have to creep before we walk and since Busta has us up and running we hope to very soon be sprinting to victories as an Essequibo team,” Johnson said.

Selman also spoke of his company’s commitment to the development of sports in Guyana and said that like Essequibo, his company began here 12 years ago in Festival City by creeping.

“We began here by creep and now we are running with the big guns in Guyana’s Beverage industry,” the Trinidadian said.

Selman said that over 100 Guyanese are employed by SM Jaleel in Guyana and hopes to increase that number by next year when more business opportunities should be available due to the bridging of the Berbice River.

He said that his company enjoys supporting communities since their beverages are well supported by all Guyanese.

He added that he believes Essequibo has good enough players to one day beat Demerara and Berbice and promised to continue supporting Essequibo’s cricket.

“We want to help to restore West Indies cricket and I believe we have to start at the lower levels. The past West Indian players played for the love of the game while it seems many present players just think of the money.

When the old players made the team it was like if they see God….now it’s all about money. While money is important you have to set high standards if you want to demand more.

The Essequibo Board has set high standards and we are pleased to provide more this year to make this competition bigger and better than ever before,” Selman said.

He thanked the media for their support and said the media helps to promote Busta’s name and expose the cricketers so everyone wins.

Selman encouraged youths to play cricket because they love it and promised his company’s continued commitment.

“Sports can play an important role in getting kids off the streets and away from crime and we support sports not only here but throughout the Caribbean,” Selman reminded.

First round Fixtures:
August 22: Wakenaam vs Bartica at Wakenaam, Leguan vs East Bank Essequibo at Leguan, Pomeroon vs South Essequibo at Pomeroon, North Essequibo vs Central Essequibo in North Essequibo.