Sir Andy Roberts to visit Berbice as BCB Coaching Programme expands

… to hold joint clinics with Roland Butcher

Widely considered the father of modern fast bowling in the Caribbean, Sir Andy Roberts is regarded as one of the all-time greats of cricket. The legendary fast bowler who retired in 1983 after the West Indies tour of India will be a special guest of the proactive Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) during the month of April.

The visit of Sir Andy would be a continuation of the BCB countywide coaching programme with special emphasis being placed from the Under-13 to Under-19 levels. BCB President Hilbert Foster stated that the main objective of the massive and well-organised coaching programme is to identify the most promising players in the county and make sure that they have all the opportunities to develop. Thousands of youths have benefited from intense training by the BCB panel of coaches headed by Level Three Coach Winston Smith over the last four years. Special emphasis has been placed on batting, physical fitness, mental preparation, fast bowling, fielding, wicket keeping, off-spin, leg-spin and left-hand or orthodox spin.

Additionally, the BCB created history when it published its coaching manual for youth players and a youth information booklet. In 2022 to date, the BCB has hosted a series of very successful coaching clinics with former players Clyde Butts, Sheik Mohamed, Sean Devers, Reon King, Nolan Mckenzie and the legendary Sir Curtly Ambrose. Foster was contacted by a close friend of Sir Andy and he readily agreed to the visit, which is scheduled to take place between the 20th and 24th of April. Widely considered as an encyclopaedia on the game, Sir Andy is expected to have one-on-one meetings along with group sessions with Berbice top junior and senior players.  He would be assisted by a battery of local coaches including Smith, Travis Hardcourt, Leslie Solomon, Delbert Hicks, Julian Moore, and Balram Samaroo. Roberts, fondly known as the “Hitman”, played 47 Test matches between 1974 and 1983. He took 202 wickets at an average of 25.6 and an economy rate of 2.67. He played in three World Cup Finals, winning in 1975 and 1979.
At the same time, the Barbados-born Butcher, who was the first person of African descent to play for England, would be conducting a batting clinic for about 40 of Berbice’s finest. Butcher, a close family friend of the BCB President, offered his services to the Board after saying he was very impressed by the high standards of its work. Butcher played three Test matches and three One-Day Internationals for England while scoring over 17,000 runs at the First-Class and 50-overs level overall.