BCB honours Berbice Under-19 Three-Day, Female Senior teams

The Hilbert Foster-led Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) have recently honoured their Berbice Under-19 Male and Senior Female Inter-County Teams for winning their respective Inter-County Championships.

Upon his election as BCB President on February 18th, 2018, Foster had pledged that every winning Berbice Inter-County Team would be honoured, and the Most Valuable Player (MVP) from each of the teams would carry home a special prize.
That promise was fulfilled in 2018 with the Under-15, Under-19, and Female Teams being properly honoured, while the three MVPs had each received a bicycle worth $18,000.
This year, the BCB President has again honoured his commitment, and thus members of the two teams were invited to the Board’s second Annual Awards Ceremony, held at the Port Mourant Ground.
The Female Team members were presented with trophies and medals by Her Worship Winifred Haywood, Mayor of New Amsterdam, while Region 6 Vice Chairman Dennis Deroop presented trophies and medals to members of the Under-19 Team. The two MVPs, Erva Giddings and Junior Sinclair, were each awarded a bicycle worth $20,000, compliments of the BCB and A. Ally & Sons of New Amsterdam.
Foster has praised the two teams for making the county proud. He disclosed, however, that the BCB was disappointed with the 2019 Inter-County results, the teams having ending up as runners-up at the Under-15, Under-19, and Undier-19 Male One-Day tournaments, but he said the BCB has committed itself to working even harder to do better in 2020.
He said that while no excuse is acceptable for the 2019 results, the BCB is concerned that, in the Inter-County tournaments, Demerara enjoyed home advantage, and almost all their matches against Berbice were played at one venue.
Foster said that, despite great odds, including the lack of financial assistance from the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), the BCB has continued to produce players for the West Indies teams at a remarkable rate. Two Under-15 Players, Isai Thorne and Rampertab Ramnauth, would shortly be touring England with the West Indies Team, while Kevlon Anderson and Kevin Umroa are in the Caribbean Under-19 Training Squad.
Shemaine Campbelle and Shimron Hetmyer are in the Senior West Indies teams, while Romario Shepherd is in the ‘A’ Team to face India ‘A’. Five Berbicians: Shimron Hetmyer, Romario Shepherd, Anthony Bramble, Veerasammy Permaul and Clinton Pestano, would also shortly be playing for the Amazon Warriors in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 20/20, while Sheneta Grimmond and Shabika Gajnabi have been involved in the West Indies Women’s Training Camps.
Special mention was made of Coaches Winston Smith and Andre Percival, and Managers Sylvia Autar and Neil Rudder, for the roles they have played in the successes of the teams.
Foster has urged the players to remain focused on their games, and to work harder to improve themselves on and off the cricket field. The BCB President committed the Board to continuing the work it is currently doing, while striving to do even more for the rest of the year.
Foster, who has hinted that he is not interested in serving for another term as BCB President, has said it is very important that both officials and cricketers work together to achieve the development of Berbice Cricket, and he has urged the senior Berbice cricketers to give back more to the game that has made their fame and fortunes.