Public Relations Officer and Chairman of the BCB’s Special Events Committee Hilbert Foster has described 2009 as the watershed year in the Board’s history stating that with a new Executive which was elected in January 2009, the Berbice Board was given a new lease of life.

The success he said was achieved via team unity, hard work, commitment, visionary leadership and a desire to make the Berbice Cricket Board the best run board in the West Indies.

Apart from playing cricket on the field as never before and organizing dozens of activities and programmes off the field, the BCB has fashioned a new era of openness, trust and transparency with the they conduct business, the general public and sponsors who are regarded as crucial partners in the development of the game in the Ancient County.

On the cricket field the BCB organized cricket at the Under-13, 15, 17, 19, 23, First and Second division levels while a Female Cricket Tournament would be played before the end of this year.

The Poonai’s Pharmacy Under-13 Inter Zone Tournament was historic as it brought to the limelight numerous existing talented players while the Tenelec Inc Under-15 Competition is at the quarter final stage.

At the Under-17 level, clubs were involved in the Leslie Amsterdam Memorial Competition while for the first time an Inter-Zone tournament was held with sponsorship from Republic Bank.

Spready’s Bakery sponsored the Under-19 Inter Club Tournament which was won by Rose Hall Town Pepsi while Upper Corentyne took home the historic first ever Under-19 Inter-Zone tournament sponsored by the Diamond Fire and General Insurance Company.

The BCB is currently hosting another historic tournament at the Under-23 level with sponsorship from Peter Lewis of Associated Construction Services. Over 115 Clubs are competing in the NBS 2009 Second Division Tournament which started immediately after the finals of the 2008 tournament in August. This tournament is the largest in terms of teams in the entire country and perhaps even the Caribbean.

First Division players were involved in the Associated Business Services 40 overs Competition which was won by the Rose Hall Town Windies Sports Bar and the Tenelec 50 overs tourney won by Albion Community Centre Cricket Club.

The County’s twelve first-division teams are currently involved in the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) sponsored three-day tournament. The BCB started the 2009 season with another historic tournament which saw West Berbice/New Amsterdam defeating Lower/Upper Corentyne at the Canje Ground.

The Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club supported the Berbice Cricket Board efforts by organising the Busta Cup, Kool Kidz Twenty/20 for Secondary Schools and Gilgeous Pawn Shop Under-19 tournament.

Under-15 cricketers at the Secondary School level are currently taking part in the GCB/NSC/Ministry of Education School Tournament.

At the Inter-county level, Berbice totally dominated the Under-19 level winning the One-day and Three-Day titles and at the senior level took the One-Day and Four-Day tournaments.

The County’s top two cricket teams – Rose Hall Town Windies Sports Bar and Albion Community Centre also clashed in the finals of the National Neal and Massy 40 overs Tournament with Albion coming out as victors.

At the national level, numerous Berbicians played for Guyana at the Under-15, 19, Female and Senior teams.

Shemaine Campbell and Tremayne Smartt were the only Guyanese to be selected on the West Indies Female team while Campbell became the first Guyanese female cricketer to score a regional and Inter-County century.

A record number of Berbice senior players represented Guyana in 2009 and they were Sewnarine Chattergoon, Narsingh Deonarine, Devindra Bishu, Veerasammy Permaul, Esaun Crandon, Royston Crandon, Delbert Hicks, Assad Fudadin, Brendon Bess and Homchand Pooran.

At the regional level Narsingh Deonarine rewrote the record books with a new batting record of 1058 runs for the season while at the international level Deonarine, Chattergoon and Royston Crandon gained West Indies selection.

Chattergoon captained the West Indies “A” Team while Crandon made his ODI debut versus India in South Africa.

Umpire D. Somwaru also made his international debut serving as the 4th umpire during two ODI’s at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence in the West Indies versus England Series.

The Berbice Cricket Board as part of its developmental plan for the game organised a series of activities off the field under Educational, Coaching, Social and Charity Themes.

Among the programmes held in 2009 were the Berbice Educational Awards Scheme, 2nd Annual Awards Ceremony, Tribute to Heroes, Hygiene Kits Programmes for Berbice teams, Berbice Caps Initiative for all Inter County teams, Berbice Cricket Academy, Launching of Berbice All Time Under-19 Team, Tribute to Retired Cricketers Programme, Tribute to Cricket Workers Programme, tribute to Media Workers Programme, Medical Outreach Programme with the Guyana Defense Force, HIV/AIDS March and Rally, Life Membership to two former Presidents, Public Exhibitions at the Albion Cricket Ground and Kiddies Cricket display among others.

The Board also held Educational Programmes for youths and which included Impromptu Speaking, Essay and Quiz Competitions while Live Television Quiz Programmes were also organized on NCN Ch 15 to develop interest in the game’s history in Berbice.

The Board in 2009 also got involved in Charity Programmes and among projects undertaken were donations of clothing to a children’s home in New Amsterdam and food hampers to less fortunate families.

PRO Foster stated that these programmes were undertaken in an effort to promote the Board as a caring and public oriented entity while noting that they have worked wonders for Berbice Cricket as it now enjoys a remarkable relationship with sponsors, the general public and the media.

As part of its mandate to be open and transparent the BCB this year, held a quarterly press conference for the Berbice Media where all aspects of its work was discussed including financial statements and special projects.

The three Berbice Television Stations covered all the press conferences with NCN airing them in its entirety.

Several TV Programmes were also organized where Executives faced the public on topics related to cricket development in Berbice. The Board also worked along with the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club and this resulted in clubs receiving over $500,000 in cricket balls, $400,000 in gears and close to $2, 500,000 in educational and hygiene kits.

Twelve clubs also benefitted from $100,000 in prizes for fund raising events while the Board benefitted from donations a 3 piece chair set and standby generator from the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club.

The BCB would also be active in December as it would be Launching its 2nd Annual Magazine, hosting a year end press conference, hosting a Christmas party for 100 less fortunate children, donating food hampers to less fortunate families, launching of the 2009 Christmas Cards Projects and 2010 Date Calendars as well as host an end of year celebration dinner for executives, cricketers and sponsors.

PRO Foster hailed the success of the Board as unbelievable and noted that for the first in years the passion and pride to be associated with Berbice Cricket is back and the respect is also there.

Over the last year, the Board has been very successful in getting massive media coverage on every cricket tournament and activity and they would like to express gratitude to NCN, DTV-8, LRTVS CH 10, VCT 28, Guyana Chronicle, Kaieteur News, Stabroek News and the Guyana Times.

Special mention is made to Gregory Rambarran, Tracy Khan, Tracy Leitch, Faizal Jafarally, Franklin Wilson, Sean Devers, Rawle Toney, Avinash Ramzan, Rovindra Madholall, Orlando Munroe, Leon Horatio, Claude David, Vemen Walter and Donald Duff.

The Board is also expressing profound gratitude to all the companies and individuals who assisted during the year – Tenelec Inc., Bobby Deonarine, New Building Society, Martin Singh, Peter Lewis, Republic Bank, Spready’s Bakery, Diamond Fire & General Insurance Co, Poonai’s Pharmacy, Demerara Bank, Scotia Bank, Conrad Plummer, Guyana Cricket Board, Fogarty’s, New GPC nc., NAMILCO, GT&T Cellink, Bissoondyal Singh, P&P Insurance Brokers, Goodwood Racing Service, Sterling Products, Ricks & Sari Ltd, Roger Harper, Metro Office Supplies, Busta, Guyana Beverage Company, A Ally & Sons Ltd, GTM Group of Companies, Bakewell, RHTY&SC, Joseph Lewis, Anand Sanasie and The Trophy Stall among others.

The Berbice Cricket Board is reassuring all Berbicians that they remain committed to the development of the game on and off the field and 2009 was the setting of the foundation for bigger things in 2010.

“The Executives of the Board are united in fulfilling their mandates, there is no division and there is a massive feeling of goodwill towards the Board and together we would achieve our stated goals.”