Foster seeks re-election for 3rd successive term, says running on his record of achievements

Dec 15, 2021 Sports

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Kaieteur News – Incumbent President of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB), Hilbert Foster, on Sunday would be seeking re-election to the position when the board holds its General meeting at the Port Mourant Cricket Club. Foster, who is also a Vice President of the Guyana Cricket Board and a Director of Cricket West Indies, was first elected to the presidency in February 2018 and has spearheaded a major transformation of the county’s cricket over the last four years.

Foster, stated that he has no interest in the politics of cricket and would be running solely on his unmatched list of achievements. He inherited a cricket system that was on the verge of total collapse and stated that despite achieving the impossible to date; much more still has to be done as the intention is to make Berbice, the jewel in the crown of West Indies cricket.
Foster stated that his administration took over a system with less than fifty thousand dollars in the bank account, no proper cricket tournament completed in two years, no developmental programme in place, no proper office to operate from, while players were quitting the game at a very fast rate. The old executives, who were defeated by Foster and his slate, did not even congratulate them and refused to do the normal handing over of financial and administration records. Over two million dollars was withdrawn from the board account and to date has not been accounted for by the past administration.
The current executives, which include leaders likes of Albert Smith, Angela Haniff, Dr Cecil Beharry, Leslie Solomon, Qualis Winter and Ameer Rahaman from day one in office worked as a collective body and their record of achievements are unmatched in Guyana and the Caribbean cricketing circle.
The board has started or successfully completed a combined seventy five cricket tournaments at the junior and senior levels, raised close to sixty million dollars of sponsorship in cash and kind, organised hundreds of developmental programmes, assisted clubs and youth players with over twenty million dollars of items and launched an ambitious educational campaign to make sure Berbice youth players place special emphasis on obtaining an educational background.
Hundreds of educational grants have been handed out to youths along with educational materials, cycles and uniforms in a massive effort to get youths to stay in school. The BCB for the first time also handed out a scholarship to the University of Guyana and unveiled a county wide coaching programme which has trained thousands of youths.
The board also created history when it became the first cricket board to publish its own coaching manual and also spearheaded a total restoration of its office. Other achievements includes the distribution of grass cutters, catching cribs, water pitchers, cricket pitch covers, while for the first time, sub associations and the umpires association received financial subventions.
Female cricket was also invested heavily into by the BCB and three Berbicians are now currently in the West Indies female team. Foster was quick to point out that a total of nineteen players from the Ancient county have either played for the regional team at different levels since 2018 or were called to training camps.
Asked to name his greatest achievement, the veteran administrator stated that he was very proud at the state of unity that existed in the county’s cricket and the fact that dozens of former players based overseas are contributing back to the game. This he stated it is based in their confidence in his team. Another major achievement has been to make sure that no ghost member clubs exists in the county. Clubs like Guymine, Kildonan and Mt Sinai are all back on their feet and are very active in playing tournaments.
He also stated that his board has been very transparent with the general public via very aggressive public relations campaign on social media and the national printed and electronic media. The fifty two years old BCB President, expressed gratitude to the hundreds of sponsors and donors who have supported the board and made special mention of overseas Guyanese Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh, Dr Puran Singh, Brian Ramphal, Sureain Sawh and Bobby Deonarine among others.
Three sub associations and thirteen clubs would vote in the elections and they are West Berbice Cricket Association, Upper Corentyne Cricket Association, Berbice River Cricket Association, Blairmont, Police, Guymine, Mental Hospital, Mt Sinai, Rose Hall Canje, Young Warriors, Chesney, RHTYSC, Port Mourant, Albion, Kildonan and Whim.
Each club has two votes and the three sub-associations four votes each.

 

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