“We strongly believe in honouring our heroes, and we want to do so while they are alive. Berbice Cricket has been successful over the last eighty years due to the outstanding contributions of countless workers and performances of countless individuals. Honouring them is just the Berbice Cricket Board’s way of saying, ‘Thank you your services, and for putting the Ancient County on the world cricketing map’.”
Narsingh Deonarine
Those were the words of BCB Public Relations Officer Simon Naidu as he unveiled the Board’s plans to honour several outstanding Berbicians as part of its 80th Anniversary Celebrations.
West Indies players Narsingh Deonarine, Shemaine Campbelle and the Legendary Rohan Kanhai will be honoured as Berbice Greatest Cricketers at the Junior, Female and Senior levels respectively.
Narsingh Deonarine represented Albion, Berbice, Guyana, and the West Indies at the Under-15 and Under-19 levels with great success while serving as captain as well.
Campbelle is the only Guyanese female cricketer to have scored centuries at the Club, County, Regional and International levels, and has represented the West Indies at the 20/20 and ODI levels for close to a decade.
Rohan Babulall Kanhai has been widely regarded as the Greatest Cricketer Berbice has produced, and he holds the record for the most Test runs, Test appearances and most Test centuries made by any Berbician. Kanhai had also captained the West Indies in winning the 1975 World Cup.
A portrait of each of these three players would be unveiled in the Berbice Cricket Board Office on the Dr. Tulsi Dyal Singh Wall of Fame.
Shemaine Campbelle
Former outstanding cricketers Leslaine Lambert, Clayton Lambert, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Narsingh Deonarine and Derick Kallicharran would also be inducted into the Berbice Hall of Fame; while outstanding Administrators Keith Foster, Anil Beharry, Malcolm Peters, Manohar Pooran and Carl Moore would also be inducted into the BCB Hall of Fame for Administrators.
The contribution of former Players Sudesh Dhaniram, Orvin Mangru, Deonarine Persaud, Andre Percival and Zaheer Moakan will be recognised under the Tribute to Retired Cricketers programme; while Angela Haniff, Joseph Simon, Dennis D’Andrade and Esuan Crandon would each receive the BCB highest individual award, The Tribute to a Hero Award of Excellence.
BCB President Hilbert Foster has said that, every year, the Board under his leadership will strive to honour outstanding heroes.
Noting that clubs in Berbice were suffering from the lack of visionary and dedicated leadership displayed in officials, the BCB boss has said it is important for positive role model cricket executives to be honoured.
The awards have been made possible via sponsorship from Metro Office Supplies; Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club, MS; Spready’s Snackette; Republic Bank (Guy) Ltd; J’s Printery; and Sentinel Security.
