Nand Persaud renews BCB Female Cricket sponsorship for 2021

– youths continue to benefit from donations of gear

The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB), just after calling off its cricket season for the rest of the year due to the rapid increase of COVID-19 cases in the Ancient County has started to plan for a busy season in 2021 when it is hoped that play would finally restart.
Last week, the Board received its first 2021 sponsorship from Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha for an Under-15 tournament while on Thursday last, the Board finalised the sponsorship of its annual female 20/20 tournament with Nand Persaud Co Ltd.

BCB President Hilbert Foster visited the company and held discussions with the company’s marketing executive, Devesh Persaud.
The tournament would be contested by defending champions Rose Hall Town Metro, West Berbice and New Amsterdam/Canje on a round-robin basis. Foster proudly stated that the BCB was the only county board to organise cricket for its female cricketers. The BCB President further stated that great effort would be made to play another two tournaments in 2021 for females as the Board continued to invest heavily in the game for the fairer sex. Additionally, the BCB would also seek to arrange matches for the female team to play across Guyana. Another major plan is to have the powerful Metro Female team play a Rest of Berbice team during the finals of the historic Semi Professional League for an attractive prize package.
With the BCB placing special emphasis on education as part of its developmental programme, one female cricketer would also receive financial assistance to assist their academic career. The Nand Persaud Co 20/20 tournament would begin early in the new year with matches expected to be played at the Area H Ground, Rose Hall Canje and Hopetown.
Among the players expected to play are West Indies players Shemaine Campbelle, Erva Giddings, Sheneta Grimmond, Shabaki Gajnabi, and Tremayne Smartt, with others like Plaffina Millington, Dian Prahald, Sherica Campbelle, Kantana Mentore, Marian Samaroo also expected to turn out. At the end of the tournament, the Berbice selectors would select the Berbice inter-county team and then they would be part of an intense preparation camp with Head Coach Winston Smith.
The BCB President expressed gratitude to Nand Persaud Co Ltd for coming on board for the third successive year and assured that the tournament would be well organised. He also stated that the company would receive widespread PR.
Marketing executive Persaud noted that the company was delighted to support Berbice cricket as it was impressed with the work of the Board and its effort to develop female cricket even more.
Meanwhile, another three youth cricketers from the West Berbice area have benefited from the work of the Board under its Patron Fund. The youths drawn from cricket clubs in Bush Lot Village received cricket gear which was donated by Patron Vickram Bharrat, Minister of Natural Resources. Two players carried home a pair of batting gloves while one received a pair of batting pads. Over the last 30 months, more than 200 youths have benefited from donations of cricket gear, uniforms and bicycles while hundreds more have received educational materials including school bags. Foster has disclosed that the assistance programme is expected to be expanded shortly while dozens of youths would receive more cricket gear in a joint project with former West Indies opener Clayton Lambert.