BCB lauds Patron Vickram Bharrat as a positive role model and leader

– President Ali to assist BCB with a grass-cutter

President of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB), Hilbert Foster, has hailed Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat as an outstanding Patron of the BCB.

Foster has said that he and his executives have made hundreds of decisions for the board over the last four years, but the appointment of Minister Vickram Bharrat as Patron of the BCB has perhaps been the best decision they have ever made.
The BCB had, in early October 2020, visited the Minister and invited him to become the first ever Honorary Patron of the BCB, and he readily agreed. He was officially sworn in on November 7, and immediately established the Patron’s Fund with a one-million-dollar contribution, which was used to provide cricket balls to all the clubs in the county. Several youths also received a combined two hundred thousand dollars’ worth of cricket gear.
In 2021, the Patron committed $2.5M to the Fund, which was used to provide white balls to first-division clubs, along with some catching cribs. He recommended the hosting of special social development seminars for youth players, and the Fund assisted to organise four sessions, which attracted in total over one hundred and fifty under-19 players.

The Fund also assisted fifty youths with an educational grant to assist each of them in their pursuit of an educational career.
The Patron, the BCB noted, also attended the opening ceremony of the social skills seminar, and was heavily involved in the programme.
The BCB Patron has also met the executives of the board on numerous occasions at very short notice, and has committed himself to make the proposed Professional League a success later in the year.
He also played a major role in the recent visit of the legendary Sir Curtly Ambrose for a fast-bowling clinic, and has assisted junior cricketers with their own gear, including West Indies junior player Rampertab Ramnauth.
The BCB has said it would like to publicly express its gratitude to Minister Bharrat for his passion, dedication and hard work as its Patron. The board has also expressed confidence that Berbice cricket under his patronage would continue to grow, and, most importantly, with his assistance, the BCB would make sure that every youth is given the opportunity to fulfill his/her potential on and off the cricket field.
The BCB would also like to express its gratitude to the Government of Guyana for the cooperation it enjoys from Government, and special mention must be made of President Dr Irfaan Ali and Ministers Charles Ramson Jr, Zulfikar Mustapha, Nigel Dharamlall, Collin Croal, Susan Rodrigues and Attorney General Anil Nandlall.
President Ali, during a recent courtesy call with Sir Curtly Ambrose, has committed to assisting the BCB with a modern grass-cutter.