GCA’s Pepsi first division 40-over cricket starts today

Sep 20, 2008 Sports

It’s only through competition that players can develop – says

DDL’s Johnson

DDL’s Marketing Assistant Alana Johnson (left) hands over the Pepsi trophy to GCA’s Shawn Massiah as other GCA officials share the moment during yesterday launching of the first division 40-overs tournament.

By Sean Devers
“The more cricket that is played, more are the opportunities for cricketers to hone their talent and to showcase their potential.”

So said President of the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCC) Bish Panday at yesterday’s launching of the GCA’s Pepsi 40-overs eight-team first division competition which bowls off today in the City with three first-round matches.

Speaking at the Georgetown Cricket Club Pavilion, Panday, also an executive of the Guyana Cricket Board, welcomed the Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) into the ‘growing family’ of sponsors of Georgetown’s cricket, adding that this competition will afford the clubs in the Capitol the opportunity to expose many of their cricketers.

“Those of you who have been following the measured ascendancy of Georgetown’s cricket would have noted that we are catering for every area and by that I mean we have and are playing cricket at different levels.

We have under-15, under-19, second division and an over-40 competition that resumes this weekend and today we are launching a domestic first division 40-overs competition,” Panday, in his second term as GCA President, informed.

Panday said that because of what is being done at the various levels, Georgetown was able to assert its supremacy at the under-15 Inter Association Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) competition earlier this year and just recently also won the DCB under-17 Inter Association tournament.

“Not only did we (G/Town) win both competitions but recently at the under-17 level, cricketers from Georgetown dominated both Essequibo and Berbice (while playing for Demerara) in the Inter County competition.

“The record speaks for itself! Seon Daniels, Andre Stoll, Quincy Ovid-Richardson, Amir Khan, Ricardo Devers and Dexter Solomon all had outstanding performances.

This was a result of a lot of hard work and planning by the GCA and the input of our technical staff led by Alfred Mentore and Garvin Nedd,” Panday pointed out.

“I say this to assure our sponsors that their competitions will be properly managed and we will work with the cricketers to ensure that we make our fair share of contribution to the national pool and in the process help to produce more Chanderpauls, Sarwans, Hoopers and Crofts,” Panday added.

He reminded that since last June clubs affiliated to the GCA have not contributed to Umpires’ fees since the GCA has been paying the full Umpires’ fees for competitions run under the aegis of the GCA.

Panday said that in addition to paying the Umpires’ fees for the Pepsi competition, the GCA will provide each club with a box of balls to be used in the competition.

Panday said that DDL has a long and rich history as not only a supporter of sports but as a good corporate citizen contributing to various areas of social life. He said it was a real pleasure to have them as part of GCA’s sponsorship team.

The round-robin league competition involves all of the present first division teams in the City and has a first prize of $100,000 and a trophy in addition to several prizes for individual performances.

DDL’s Marketing Assistant Alana Johnson told the gathering, which included GCA executives and the Media, that DDL was happy to be associated with Georgetown’s cricket.

In her customary eloquent fashion, Johnson reiterated DDL’s commitment to the development of sports and young people and stressed that it is only through competitions that cricketers can really develop their game.
Showing her astute knowledge of cricket, Johnson, a former Media personality said, “Practice is practice.

Nothing can compensate for real match situations and without competitions the players will most likely not develop into great cricketers since cricket is a team sport and matches in competitions test all aspects of a players’ ability.”

Johnson noted that Pepsi is the official drink of West Indies cricket and urged the participants of this Pepsi competition to strive for the extraordinary and aim for more than the expected as they go into battle.

Johnson handed over the Championship trophy and the sponsorship cheque to the GCA while a symbolic handing over of a box off balls to the DCC team was done by the GCA.

In Today’s first round matches GDF battle GCC at Bourda, TSC take on GNIC at Everest and DCC host Police. MSC and Everest will face-off tomorrow at Everest in the other first round encounter. The second round is scheduled for September 27 with four matches.

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