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Funding Needed …National Blind Cricketers to play in Regional T20 in T&T
By Sean Devers
This year’s West Indies Blind T20 tournament which will be played in Trinidad is being used to select a West Indies team for the 2017 World t20 Championship set for India. The Regional tournament is schedule from July 8-16
West Indies Blind cricket team Coach Barath Mangru takes the Guyana team through a fitness drill.
in Trinidad with Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and host Trinidad & Tobago participating.
The Guyana team must play in this competition for their players to be eligible for selection to the Regional team. In 2014 Kevin Douglas, Leroy Phillips and Anthony Robinson were selected for the West Indies’ Blind tour to India but the Guyana Blind Cricket Association (GBCA) could not find the funds needed to help pay for their trip and the three Guyanese had to be replaced.
Last year President David Granger contributed $2Million to make the team’s trip to St Lucia possible and it is hoped that corporate Guyana and Government of Guyana can help to provide the Guyanese players the opportunity of vying for a place on the West Indies side by ensuring they get the chance to showcase their talent to the West Indies Blind selectors who are all fully sighted.
Cecil Morris, President (ag) of the GBCA is again pleading with the Private Sector and Government for support since the budget is approximately $2.5 million and the GBCA is still $1.8Million short of that amount.
The Guyana players are currently training under the watchful eyes of National Blind Coach Bharat Mangru, who was Coach of the first ever West Indies Blind team which attended the Blind Cricket World Cup in Pakistan in 2006.
Practice sessions are conducted every Sunday from 09:00hrs to noon at the National Gymnasium tarmac while practice sessions are also held during the week in Linden and supervised by a senior player.
Currently there are 20 players in training from Linden, Georgetown, Berbice and Essequibo. A camp is schedule from June 24-27 at the National Gymnasium after which a 14-member squad will be selected for the tournament.
Ganesh Singh, Oliver Kerr and Patrick Howard are the only Guyanese to don West Indies colors and they are once again among those shortlisted as is Douglas and Phillips. Seon Mitchell and talented female Crystal Aulder are also key members of the National team.
Schemona Trinidad was the only Guyanese female to be selected on a West Indies team (both males and Females make up a team) when she was picked to play against the touring Australians in Barbados in 2010.
She qualified for finals of the GTT’s Song Festival and opted out of the team but unfortunately did not emerge as the top vocalist. The GBCA do not just view blind cricket as a competitive sport but as a vehicle for the empowerment of blind and visually impaired persons.
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