Youth cricketers and clubs benefit from BCB’s Ray Hazel Trust Fund

A total of 30 youth cricketers drawn from seven clubs in the New Amsterdam area on Thursday last benefited from a donation of cricket gear from the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB)-organised Ray Hazel Memorial Trust Fund.
The fund is one of several of its kind to be set up over the past four years by the Board with the main objective of providing youth players with the necessary cricket items to allow them to fulfil their dreams.

Cricketers pose with BCB officials after the presentation

BCB President Hilbert Foster, accompanied by Secretary Angela Haniff, Assistant Secretary Ameer Rahaman and executive Edgert Edwards, conducted the transparent distribution of the gear via a raffle system at the Area H Ground in front of the players, executives of the different clubs and parents. Among the gear distributed were bats, batting pads, batting gloves, wicketkeeping gloves, wicketkeeping pads, footwear and helmets. The clubs whose members benefited were Guymine, Rose Hall Canje, Tucber Park, Kendall Union, Edinburgh, Mount Sinai and East Bank Berbice.

One of the players, Tomanni Caesar poses with a portrait of Ray Hazel and his donated bat

Foster, in brief remarks during the ceremony, noted that he was contacted by the Hazel family to host the fund in memory of the late Ray Hazel, a former junior Berbice player and table tennis champion. Ray was the son of former BCB President Ancel Hazel, who was also Head of the Guyana Teachers Union. Ray died several years ago in the United States after a brief illness.
The donated gear was posted late last year, but owing to the ongoing worldwide shipping delays were not delivered for several months. One box sent to the BCB was destroyed in the fire at the Laparkan bond, but two barrels were fortunate to survive.
Foster urged the youths to not only take care of the items but to develop a culture of hard work, discipline and dedication while appreciating the investment that the Hazel family was making into their development. He also pledged that the BCB would continue to invest in youth development at all levels with the hosting of cricket tournaments and numerous developmental programmes while assisting clubs and players as much as possible. Foster, who is a Director at Cricket West Indies (CWI), also announced that dozens of players, schools and cricket clubs across Berbice would soon benefit from millions of dollars’ worth of gear through a joint effort with the Cricket Kindness Group of England.
Arlington Hazel, Ray’s brother, expressed thanks to the BCB for joining hands with his family in honouring his sibling. He disclosed that the trust fund would be regularly bolstered and he was confident that the county cricketing system would benefit from the investment. He also stated that he was very impressed with the development taking place in the county and pledged his future support. Clubs also received a set of cricket gear, uniforms and a scorebook.