The 14th Annual Berbice Expo and Trade Fair got off to an exciting start on Friday, October 5th at the Albion Sports Complex ground on the Corentyne with an informative and captivating opening ceremony filled with cultural items.
The important aspect of the four-day event was mixed with presentations from prominent persons in the Business community.
Business Minister Dominic Gaskin during his visit to the Women’s World T20 booth at the Berbice Expo on Friday night at Albion (WWT20||JohnRamsingh photo)
It is no secret that Guyanese have a deep passion for cricket, and that passion is amplified in Berbice, as was evident when the members of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the Guyana leg of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s World T20 opened their booth as part of the expo.
After the opening ceremony, during his official walk-about, Minister Gaskin visited the Women’s World Cup Cricket pitch, picked up the ball and delivered a perfect first ball Yorker that sent the stumps crashing. This caused him to be the first winner of a tournament souvenir tee-shirt.
After that display of ministerial cricketing prowess, hundreds of curious spectators swarmed the makeshift cricket pitch, which was comprised of stumps and boundary boards, to get firsthand information on the November 9 to 24 tournament, and also to test their skills at batting, bowling and fielding for the opportunity to win branded souvenir tee-shirts.
The drills were conducted by former Guyana and West Indies fast bowler Colin Stuart, who is part of the LOC. Stuart was joined by Cricket West Indies Regional ‘Sportainment’ Manager Jahmal Thomas; Marketing and ‘Sportainment’ Manager (Guyana) Rayad Boyce, and Media Facilitator (Guyana) John Ramsingh, along with the ‘Watch This’ models who interacted with the fans.
Earlier, during the formal opening ceremony, when the Honourable Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, delivered the feature address to the gathering of spectators and booth holders, the Unique Arts Dance Troupe performed the theme song for the Women’s World T20, ‘Watch This’.
It left both spectators and officials wanting more, resulting in the heavy traffic later experienced on the cricket pitch. The 10-team tournament bowls off on November 9 at the Providence stadium with three matches and a super concert. Performances are expected from Patrice Roberts and Shenseea — the artistes who gave us ‘Watch This.” Tickets are currently on sale on line at http://worldtwenty20. com , while the local box offices will open on Monday October 29.
In all, there are five official warm up matches and eight World Cup matches scheduled for Guyana at Providence from November 4 to 17. St Lucia will also host preliminary matches, while the semifinal and final are slated for Antigua.
The Berbice Expo and Trade Fair, organised by the Central Corentyne Chamber of Commerce, ran from October 5 to 8 and featured exhibition from local businesses in the manufacturing and service industries.
This year’s activities were held under the theme, “Advancing economic progress through professional standards and entrepreneurship”.
