Region 6 Inter-Secondary School Tournament launched

… BCB/RHTY&SC, GBTI on board

Secondary school students in Region Six who play the game of cricket will once again be given the opportunity to showcase their cricketing skills in a matter of weeks. The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) on Friday joined hands with the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTY&SC), MS, and the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) to launch an Under-19 tournament for the 17 secondary schools in Region Six.

The relationship between the RHTY&SC and GBTI has been ongoing for several years, but this tournament would be the second with the BCB. BCB President Hilbert Foster, who is also the Secretary/ CEO of the RHTY&SC, stated that the support of GBTI has played a major role in the development of youth cricket. For the first five years, the GBTI-sponsored tournament was for schools in the Lower Corentyne, but was expanded to include schools all over Region Six in 2019.
Last year’s tournament was won by JC Chandisingh Secondary School, who defeated Berbice High School in the final at the Area H Ground in front of a large and colourful crowd. The schools participating in the tournament include Line Path Secondary, Skeldon High, Tagore Memorial, Black Bush Secondary, Central Corentyne, Winifred Gaskin Memorial, Manchester High, Corentyne Comprehensive, JC Chandisingh, Port Mourant Secondary, Lower Corentyne Secondary, Canje Secondary, New Amsterdam Secondary, Berbice Educational Institute and Tutorial Academy.
Foster disclosed that the date of birth cut-off would be September 1, 2001 while all players should be registered students of their respective schools with an attendance rate of 80 per cent. The tournament will be 30 overs per side and captains are expected to be at the venue at 9.45am for the spinning of the toss. The BCB Head is urging the youth cricketers to take advantage of the school tournament and to perform well, so that the BCB Selection Committee can consider them in their 2020 selection.
Players like Jonathan Rampersaud, Mahendra Gopilall, Lucas Arthur, Jeremy Sandia, Gourav Ramesh, Kumar Deopersaud, Zeynul Ramsammy, Leon Cecil, Rampertab Ramnauth, Hemendra Gurdyal, Salim Khan, Vittore Latchman, Sanjay Algoo, Avishkar Persaud, Isiah Thorne and Abdul Ramsammy are expected to be participated in the tournament.
The RHTY&SC Cricket Manager expressed gratitude to GBTI for its continued investment into Berbice cricket and reassured that the second BCB/RHTY&SC/ GBTI Inter-Secondary School tournament would be a huge success.
Chairman of the BCB Competition Committee, Leslie Solomon spoke of the importance of youth cricket at the school level as the county seeks to identify new talent to uphold the rich tradition of Berbice cricket. Branch Manager of GBTI Port Mourant branch, Mohamad Azim stated that the bank strongly believes in fulfilling its corporate responsibilities and does so via several avenues including investment in sports, culture, and education.