BCB launches MP Jaffarally and Rion Peters Trust Funds

-Region Five clubs and schools to benefit from bowling machine and concrete pitches

Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) President Hilbert Foster has said that 2023 would see major developments in Berbice cricket in general and massive investment in the county’s junior cricket in particular in an effort to unearth promising talents for the future.
Foster has said that 2023 would see the return of cricket at the secondary school level and the historic introduction of the game at a competitive stage at the primary school level.
Late last year, with assistance from US-based Guyanese businessman Lochan Samkarran, the BCB distributed close to two million dollars’ worth of uniforms, gear and cricket balls to 23 secondary schools in the county. And more than 65 primary schools in both Regions Five and Six would shortly receive almost one million dollars’ worth of tape ball bats and taped balls as the BCB continues to invest in the school system.
The BCB last Friday received two major sponsorships from Government officials as the drive progresses to advance the interests of the county’s cricket. People’s Progressive Party Member of Parliament Faizal Jaffarally, a longtime supporter of the Hilbert Foster-led BCB, handed over a sponsorship package of five hundred thousand dollars to the BCB. The funds would be equally utilised to host the annual Jaffarally 20/20 Knockout tournament for second-division teams in West Berbice and provide cricket balls under the second annual Jaffarally Cricket Trust Fund. Twelve clubs in West Berbice would receive red cricket balls to assist them to play in the numerous BCB tournaments scheduled for 2023.

Government MP Faizal Jaffarally has been a massive supporter of cricket in Berbice, and has even assisted the BCB to find sponsors at several levels.
Region Five Vice Chairman Rion Peters has also readily agreed to establish a trust fund in his name, and has handed over two hundred thousand dollars to the BCB during a meeting with a four-member BCB delegation led by Foster.
These funds would be used to assist primary schools with tape balls and bats for the upcoming Inter-Primary School 10 Overs tournament. Vice Chairman Peters has also committed to assisting with the construction of two all-weather concrete courts with nets at the Bush Lot United and Cotton Tree grounds.
Construction at Bush Lot is expected to start shortly, while construction at Cotton Tree would start later in the year. The pitches would be of major assistance to players during the off-season and the rainy season, and coaches would also be facilitated to conduct sessions with youths there.
Clubs and schools in the area would also have access to a four hundred thousand dollars’ worth of bowling machines, compliments of the Rion Peters Trust Fund.
Foster, who was elected to the presidency of the BCB in 2018, has committed to obtaining four bowling machines this year, after the BCB coaching staff had requested them in order to work on the county’s youth batsmen’s ability to play fast bowling.
The BCB has already obtained sponsorship for two machines for the New Amsterdam/Canje and Lower Corentyne sub-zones, and is currently working to get one for the Upper Corentyne area. Foster is confident that all four sub-zones would get their bowling machines by April, 2023.
The BCB has expressed deep gratitude to MP Jaffarally and to Rion Peters for the investments they have made in Berbice cricket. The board is seeking to produce a total of sixty players for the national teams at the different levels, surpassing the fifty produced in 2022.