Speaker’s T20 Cup starts April 3; 20 clubs to compete for lucrative prizes

Twenty cricket clubs in Guyana have been confirmed to compete in the inaugural Speaker’s T20 championship, set to bowl off on April 3 and run until May 5.

Teams have been divided into four groups of five, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the quarter-finals. At the group stage, the teams will play each other once.

Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, indicated that the underlying reason for the tournament is to edify the public on the functions of the National Assembly and Parliament.

“The National Assembly has a programme to promote the duties of Members of Parliament, the work of Parliament and in particular, to build a culture of democracy among people,” Nadir stated at Friday’s launch held at the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB).

The tournament is a collaboration between the GCB and Everest Cricket Club, of which Nadir is the President.

Of recent, some cricket events have come under the microscope for flouting COVID-19 regulations, and while Nadir indicated the buck stops at them – the organisers – they are putting systems in place to minimise such an occurrence.

“We want to ensure this is about conducting the game and not about spectators’ live participation; a time will come for that, but at the current time the strict adherence to the COVID protocols will be observed.”

The tournament will also follow guidelines of Cricket West Indies’ return to play policy, which allowed this tournament to gain approval.

Secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board, Anand Sanasie, said the tournament has been one they have been pondering for years, but due to the COVID-19 situation and the rainy weather late last year, they had to postpone.

Ideally, Sanasie wants to use this tournament to feed players into franchises for Cricket Guyana Inc. T20 tournament.

“The games will be played across the country, venues to be decided, based on quality and weather conditions. I would also like to tell you that this club competition would be a feeder into the franchise competition we would have in all three formats.”

Some of the major sponsors also expressed their happiness to be on board, among them Banks DIH Limited, GTT, Sueria Manufacturing Inc., Eniath Printers, TNT Virtual, George Subraj Foundation NY, Assuria Insurance, Techlify and Trophy Stall.

Latoya Garraway of Techlify Inc. indicated they will manage the digital presence of the tournament through the website: cricket.gy. The website will offer updated stats, team info, and live stream of matches.

The teams would be vying for a top prize of G$1 million, while second to fourth would receive G$500,000, G$200,000 and G$100,000 respectively. The Most Valuable Player would also be rewarded.

Participating clubs had to G$100,000 each to enter the competition.

Contesting club are: Albion, Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club, Tucber Park, West Berbice, Lusignan Sports Club, University of Guyana Trojans, Everest Cricket Club, Police Sports Club, Malteenoes Sports Club, Gandhi Youth Organisation Sports Club (Regal), Demerara Cricket Club, Georgetown Cricket Club, Rising Stars Cricket Club, Canal Number Two, New Wales Superstars, McGill Super Stars Sports Club, Belle Vue Sports Club, Cornelia Ida and Bacchus Sports.