Romario Shepherd sponsors BCB under-13 tournament
– Board launches another Mortimer George book on Berbice Cricket
Romario Shepherd is handing over sponsorship to Clayton Lambert.
BCB Secretary Angela Haniff presents the first copy of Mortimer George’s book “Know Your Heroes” to Clayton Lambert.
Kaieteur News – “You are a gem of Berbice Cricket, a positive role model and it feels good to all of us at Berbice Cricket Board when our players we have invested so much pay it forward”. Such were the words of BCB President Hilbert Foster to West Indies Romario Shepherd, who came aboard this Sunday as an office sponsor for Berbice Cricket. The Tucber Park round player joins his West Indies teammate Shimron Hetmyer as sponsors of the Berbice Cricket tournament. Hetmyer sponsors the Berbice Intermediate tournament, while Shepherd would now sponsor an under-13 tournament.
Foster had approached the mid-level manager for the sponsorship during the West Indies tour to New Zealand and the player easily agreed to the request. The tournament that would start in the first quarter of 2021 is expected to attract about twelve teams with the final date of birth in 2008-09-01. Players must be attending school and teams would be expected to provide proof of their date of birth as required. Only Peruvians would be allowed to play in the tournament. Clubs have until the end of February to inform the BCB Competitions Committee of their participation.
BCB Competition Committee Chairman Leslie Solomon revealed that teams that play average players would be banned from the tournament and face a hefty fine. All players are expected to be in uniform in white. The teams would be split into two zones with the top two in each zone advancing to the semi-finals.
Foster said the BCB plans to host at least thirty cricket tournaments in 2021 at the various levels – Under 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, Female, Second Division, Indoor Zone, Intermediate and First Division. The board has already secured sponsorship for some of the tournaments including Under 13, Under 15, Female and first two day section. The BCB President expressed confidence that the Marketing Committee, by itself, would raise funds for each of the tournaments and development programs anticipated for 2021. Shepherd, who scored his 1st-century 1st class, assured against New Zealand “A” recently, that the tournament would be well organized and would achieve all of its objectives. Shepherd stated, in brief comments, that he was proud of the province of Berbice Cricket and that he was delighted to invest in the development of young people. He committed to assist in the future. Former West Indies opener Clayton Lambert received the sponsorship from Shepherd and congratulated him on remembering his roots.
Meanwhile, the proactive cricket board on Sunday also launched another announcement by its former Secretary Mortimer George. The one hundred and sixty-nine page magazine was published under the title “Know your Heroes – Berbice Cricket”. George, who was Secretary from 1975 to 1983, is a prolific writer on Berbice Cricket and has published several books and magazines including specials for BCB’s 75th and 80th birthdays in 2014 and 2019. President Foster noted publishing the magazine as another red. – a ring day in the rapid development of Berbice Cricket and expects to play a major role in educating youth cricketers on the history of Berbice Cricket and its heroes.
Episodes of the magazine include the Ten Amazing, Rising Stars, List of Windies Cricketers, Hall of Fame Inductees, West Indies female cricketers from Berbice, Lifetime Members, Berbice Test Cricketers and featured articles on Rohan Kanhai, Basil Butcher, Joe Solomon, Leslie Amsterdam, Lennox Phillips, Ancel Hazel, John Trim, Alvin Kallicharran and Duncan Stuart. The President expressed his gratitude to George for his investment in Berbice Cricket and urged him to continue to do so as it was important that the history of the game at Berbice be recorded for future generations.