Latest update May 14th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 24, 2011 Sports
Dear Sir,
It was with a sense of irony that I read the reply of Mr. K. Amsterdam of the Demerara Cricket Club in response to the letter of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club on the Guyana Cricket Board’s Club of the Year Award. The letter only served to confirm the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club point that the selection of the Demerara Cricket Club over the Berbice club was totally unfair with one third of the Demerara Cricket Club’s letter based on usages of its Queenstown based cricket ground.
As Secretary of the Berbice Cricket Board, I am fully aware of the work of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club and the impact it has on the rapid development of cricket in Berbice and Guyana. The Tournaments won by the Demerara Cricket Club according to them were Under-13, Under-15, Digicel 20/20 and Carib Beer Friends of Cricket. They also made some progress in the Noble House Seafood Second Division Tournament.
Mr. Editor, all of these competitions were Georgetown’s Sub-association Tournaments which represents just a small percentage of the county of Demerara. The Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club won the Tenelec Inc Under-15 Inter-club, Millie Lewis Memorial Females, Ramcharitar Construction Services 50-Overs Knock-out, Universal DVD 20/20 and Busta Champion of Champions, which were all Berbice’s wide spread tournaments not Sub-associations. In addition they have reached the Quarter-finals of the Memorex/Leslie Amsterdam Memorial Under-17 and NBS Second Division 40-Over Tournament and was Runner-up of the 2010/2011 Spready’s Bakery Under-19 Tournament.
Let us compare the achievements of players produced by both clubs for the county and country for 2011:
The records above clearly show that in terms of producing players at all levels, the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club outweighs Demerara Cricket Club. On a special note, Demerara Cricket Club has not produced a single female player to represent Georgetown, Demerara or Guyana.
Mr. Amsterdam stated in his letter that Mr. Mark Harper served as Coach for the Senior Team and Mr. Nedd for the Under-17 Team. Those were not achievements but appointments by the Guyana Cricket Board whose Vice President is Head of the Demerara Cricket Club. Poor Mr. Harper was fired and replaced by someone, a qualified Level 1 Coach who himself was fired for non-performance. Big achievement!
The Demerara Cricket Club press release stated that Barnwell captained the Georgetown Pitbulls and Georgetown Twenty/20, while Michael Shalim captained the Demerara Under-17 Team. Even in terms of captaincy, the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club out did Demerara Cricket Club with Shawn Pereira leading the Berbice Under-19 Team, Shemaine Campbelle the Berbice and Guyana Female Teams, Royston Crandon led the Corentyne 20/20 Team in the Guyana Cricket Board 20/20 and also the Guyana 20/20 Team vs Trinidad, while Assad Fudadin led the Berbice and Guyana 50-Overs Teams. It must also be noted that for the whole of 2011, the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club only lost once in all levels.
Mr. Editor, the Demerara Cricket Club is without doubt a historic Club in the context of the game in Guyana but its achievements in 2011 cannot be compared to the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club. The Demerara Cricket Club off the field achievements mentioned in the PRO’s letter were the hosting of an Annual Cricket Summer Camp for 75 youths and the hosting of regular Executive Meetings.
Let us compare that to a Cricket Academy for 120 Youths, Educational Summer Camp, numerous cricket clinics, monthly TV Programmes, Annual Magazine. Multimillion dollars charity Programmes, multimillion dollars Anti-drug and Pro-education Campaign directed to 60,000 youths, Basil Butcher Cricket Trust Fund, Patricia Moniz Sports and Education Trust Fund, Western Union Junior Cricketer Ambassador Programme, multimillion dollars Awards Ceremony, Benefit Scheme for Cricketers, Tribute to Heroes and over 100 more Programmes.
In 2011, the Berbice Cricket Board has benefitted from the hard work of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club which single handily raised over $5M in cash and materials, while the club and its cricketers sponsored a total of 29 programmes for Berbice Cricket, while at the same time donating cricket gears, cricket balls, uniforms, footwear and other items worth millions of dollars to other clubs in the ancient county. The Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club also produced the Berbice Cricket Magazine, Christmas Cards and Annual Calendar.
Mr. Editor, the facts are quite clear for all to see and the Berbice Cricket Board would like to support the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club and its position. No other club in Guyana in 2011 can match the achievement of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club and usage of a cricket tournament surely cannot be an achievement. The Guyana Cricket Board needs to be fair in its judgement.
The Berbice Cricket Board would however like to offer congrats to Demerara Cricket Club on being named Club of the Year.
However, the Guyanese public knows in their hearts who really is Guyana’s Cricket Club of the Year based on performances.
Angela Haniff,
Secretary, Berbice Cricket Board
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