Dozens of Berbice cricketers to benefit from $1.5M BCB/ Clayton Lambert Gear project

– BCB assists clubs with face masks as part of COVID-19 response

Dozens of the youth cricketers in the Ancient County would shortly benefit from over $1.5M worth of cricket gear, as the Hilbert Foster-led Berbice Cricket Board continue its aggressive campaign to develop the game at the junior level.
The donation is to be made under the joint BCB/Clayton Lambert Gears project, and over sixty youths are expected to benefit in the largest ever distribution of gear to youth cricketers to be done by a county board in Guyana.
BCB President Hilbert Foster, who since his election in 2018 has spearheaded an effort to assist less fortunate and promising cricketers to fulfill their potential on and off the cricket field, has said the gears are expected in the country by December 10, and the distribution would start soon after. The gears to be donated include junior bats, senior bats, batting pads, wicket-keeping gloves, wicket-keeping pads, helmets, thigh pads, forehand guard, bat rubber among other things.
A special portion of these gears would be made to the Berbice River Cricket Association as the BCB strives to develop the game in that riverine area. The BCB President has said that, in 2021, at least two cricket tournaments at the 20/20 and 40 over level would be held for the four teams in the area while a combined riverine team would also participate in the BCB’s historic semiprofessional league, fixed for middle next year.
In an effort to distribute the gears in a transparent way, the BCB would be very grateful if the following clubs, who have junior teams, can submit names of players they think should benefit. Edinburgh, East Bank Blazers and Guymine have to submit four names, while two names are expected from Paradise, Bush Lot United, Bush Lot Rising Star, Bath, Achievers, Blairmont, Tucber Park, Mt Sinai, Rose Hall Canje, Young Warriors, Kendall Union. Albion, RHTY&SC, Port Mourant, No 73, Rama Krishna and Scottsburg. The BCB would also select some youths, based on the recommendation of senior coach Winston Smith who has been conducting coaching sessions across the county.
The board has set down guidelines for the submission of the players to benefit. Players have to be between the under-13 and under-17 levels, must be disciplined, must have a good attendance rate in school, be from a less fortunate background, and must not have received assistance during the year. Deadline for the submissions of names is the 7th of December. At the end of the project, the BCB would have assisted close to three hundred youths with cricket gears or bicycles over the last thirty months.
Clayton Lambert, who played five test matches for the West Indies, has said he was delighted to work along with his county board, as he was very impressed with the progress being made under Foster’s leadership
He said this was just the first of several shipments of gears that he would be sending to Berbice. He recalled that he did not have his own bat until he scored his first regional century vs the Leeward Island at Albion in 1984. His first century was scored using a bat lent to him by team mate Clyde Butts. Lambert says he wants to assist others to fulfill their dream of playing at the highest level.
Meanwhile, as part of its COVID-19 response programme, the BCB recently handed our close to one thousand face masks to several clubs during a special meeting at the Albion Ground. Among the clubs receiving the facemasks were Albion, Port Mourant, Chesney, Police, Edinburgh, Rose Hall Canje, Ramnarine Memorial, Kendall Union, Tucber Park, Achievers, No 73, No 69 Vikings and the University of Guyana Tain Campus. The masks were donated by cricketer Ishwar Singh of Ishwar Guybiz Est.
The BCB has, over nine months, shared out thousands of food hampers and distributed hundreds of educational posters as part of its COVID-19 response.