Former England player Roland Butcher to conduct batting clinic in Berbice

– BCB assist youths from sub-associations

The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) is pleased to announce that former England Test player Roland Butcher would be visiting shortly, after volunteering his services for a batting clinic for junior players.

Butcher, a family friend of BCB President Hilbert Foster, has said he has been very impressed with the developments taking place in the county, and wants to contribute. The dates for the visit would be announced shortly.
Butcher created history in 1980/1 when he became the first person of African extraction to represent England at the ODI and Test level. Butcher has scored 12,021 first class runs, with a highest score of 197 and seventeen centuries. He played three Test matches and three ODIs for England.
And over the last week, the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) fulfilled another commitment to two sub-associations made at its recent Annual General Meeting. BCB President Hilbert Foster had committed the BCB to assisting the sub-associations with trophies and other items to enable them to honour their players, especially youths.

The BCB has handed over trophies, framed certificates, gold medals, and six gifts to both sub- associations as the board strives to fulfill its commitment made in a manifesto presented to all members at the AGM.
Foster has said that, with less than two months since the AGM, the BCB has fulfilled several of the commitments, and the coming weeks would see many more promises coming into fruition. He said it is very important to keep youth players motivated, especially during this ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and as such, apart from hosting its annual award ceremony, sub-associations would do likewise. This, he stated, would be done on an annual basis, and the board would do the same for youths in the New Amsterdam/Canje and Lower Corentyne areas, where there are no sub- associations.
President of the West Berbice Cricket Association, David Black, has expressed gratitude to the BCB and has said that, in the history of the association, the parent body has never previously assisted the area as it is doing currently. Black stated that, over the last few years, the sub-association and the clubs in the area have benefited from receipt of a pitch cover, water pitchers, grass cutters, scorebooks, cricket balls, cricket gear, uniforms, school bags, educational materials, bicycles, educational grants, and first aid kits, among other things.
The two sub-associations would soon benefit from more cricket gear for youths in the area under a massive distribution drive which would start shortly.
Additionally, some 100 clubs across the county would each shortly receive a scorebook when the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club joins hands with the BCB. The club, over the decade, has assisted clubs with a scorebook with sponsorship of Odyssey Tours on an annual basis.
The board coaching programme would also be expanded with the hosting of two more clinics for youths on Sunday February 27. Former West Indies off-spinner Clyde Butts would host a one-day off-spinners clinic for about 40 spinners, while former national wicketkeeper Sheik Mohamed would work with about two dozen youths in a wicket-keeping clinic.
Foster noted that the BCB would be organising a large number of these clinics in 2022, as it strives to make sure that every youth is given equal opportunity to fulfill his/her potential.