Incumbent President of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB), Hilbert Foster, is seeking re-election to the post when the Board holds its election of office bearers on Sunday (December 19) at the Port Mourant Cricket Club.
The process will start at 11:00h.
At this point, Foster is the only candidate for the post, however, nominations could be made from the floor on Sunday.
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 three years, 10 months.
While stating he has no interest in the politics of cricket, Foster said he would be running solely on his unmatched list of achievements.
The long-serving cricket administrator said he inherited “a cricket system that was on the verge of total collapse”, as there was limited funds, “no proper cricket tournament in two years, no development programme, no proper office space to operate from, while players were quitting the game at a very fast rate.”
According to Foster, the current executive, which includes Albert Smith, Angela Haniff, Dr. Cecil Beharry, Leslie Solomon, Qualis Winter and Ameer Rahaman, has worked as a collective and the record of achievements is unmatched in Guyana and the Caribbean cricketing circle.
“The board has started or successfully completed a combined 75 cricket tournaments at the junior and senior levels, raised close to 60 million dollars of sponsorship in cash and kind, organised hundreds of developmental programmes, assisted clubs and youth players with over 20 million dollars of items and launched an ambitious educational campaign to make sure Berbice youth players place special emphasis on obtaining an educational background,” Foster related through a press statement.
The statement further outlined that hundreds of educational grants have been handed out to youngsters in the county, 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 University of Guyana scholarship 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 published its own coaching manual and also spearheaded a total restoration of its office. Other achievements include 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,” Foster added.
It was also highlighted that heavy investment was made in female cricket, and as a consequence, three Berbicians are currently in the West Indies female team.
Additionally, since 2018, a total of 19 players from the Ancient County have either played for the regional team at different levels or were called to training camps.
Greatest achievements
Foster hailed the level of unity that currently exists in the cricket fraternity and the generosity of former players based overseas contributing to the game as his greatest achievements.
“Another major achievement has been to make sure that no ghost member clubs exist in the county. Clubs like Guymine, Kildonan and Mt. Sinai are all back on their feet and are very active in playing tournaments,” he highlighted.
He also stated that the 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.
Foster expressed gratitude to the hundreds of sponsors and donors who have support the Board and made special mention of overseas-based Guyanese Dr. Tulsi Dyal Singh, Dr. Puran Singh, Brian Ramphal, Sureain Sawh and Bobby Deonarine.
At Sunday’s election, three sub-associations and 13 clubs would vote 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, RHTY&SC, Port Mourant, Albion, Kildonan and Whim.
Each club has two votes and the three sub-associations four votes each.
