Places open for ECB on GCB including Selection Panel - VP Foster

Places open for ECB on GCB including Selection Panel – VP Foster

Apr 17, 2021 Sports

Preaches unity & inclusion to take Guyana’s forward

By Sean Devers

Kaieteur News – Although most the executives of the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) have openly supported the previous Administration, new Vice President of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Hilbert Foster says positions on the GCB are open to members of the ECB.
Speaking on last Wednesday night’s ‘Sean Devers Sports Watch’ on Kaieteur Radio, the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) President and newly appointed Cricket West Indies Director preached unity and inclusion of all despite who they supported in the past.
“I would like for us to get past the stage of them versus us and for everyone to have a place around the table and be united and for our cricketers to have trust in our Administration and to join hands with us to lift Guyana’s cricket even more.
The cricket development committee that I chair has three or four spaces for members of the Essequibo Cricket Board and there is space for them in the other committees. Also there is a place for them in both the Senior and Junior Selection Committees. We are just waiting for the Essequibo Board to provide names when they are contacted and join us at that table to get the work done,” added Foster.
Former Guyana and West Indies Captain Ramnaresh Sarwan and former Guyana and West Indies U-19 player Andre Percival have already been appointed the head the senior and Junior selection panels respectively.
“We have identified the other members of the selection committee apart from those from the Essequibo Board but those people are still being contacted and I don’t want the jump the gun and make any announcements. But what we did, we looked at each County along with the independent Chairman and can tell you that the Coach of each one of the National teams will be a part of the panel. We are yet to make a decision if they will have voting power or not” Foster disclosed.
When asked what influenced him to accept the positions of GCB Vice-President, Foster, who is the President of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club, disclosed that many had known from the start that he was not interested in the Presidency.
“I was willing to server in any other capacity. I guess it was because of my love for cricket and more importantly to make a difference in the lives of young people to help them fulfill their dreams” said Foster, a huge advocate of youth development. When asked what different the GCB would do as opposed to what the previous administration did Foster said “Everybody has their own style of leadership but one of the things I want to make sure happen is that we assist young people to fulfill their ambition in the sense that you can’t only do coaching with the young players and expect them to reach the top. There are many young cricketers who are denied the opportunity to fulfilling their talent because of poverty so I am trying to get the Guyana Cricket Board to assist them as much as possible”
Foster said that personally he favoured the return of the Senior Inter-County tournament after the Franchise tournament has been completed and use the Franchise matches to pick the County teams. But as chairman of the Cricket development committee he has to discuss this with his committee members and see what are their thoughts on the idea and then take it to the executives for their approval.
Foster feels the biggest challenge for the newly installed GCB is to raise sponsorship for the tournament that the GCB wants to do, since in addition to the current inter-county tournaments that the GCB organise, the new Board would like to host a U-21, U-23 and U-25 as a part of a comprehensive youth development plan. “Getting back the trust of the sponsorship for GCB could be a slight worry” Foster indicated.
Also on the programme were former First Class player Neil Barry who is Georgetown Cricket Association’s President and Marketing Manager of the Demerara Cricket Board, Secretary of the Essequibo Cricket Board, Otto Christiani and competitions Committee Chairman of the GCA and GCB Shawn Massiah.