Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago are to participate on a bilateral regional U13 cricket tournament set to run from December 10-17, 2022, the Guyana Cricket Board has announced.
According to the GCB, the tournament to be held in Guyana complements Cricket West Indies’ plans of two-year incremental development programs.
Consequently, it is expected that the Under-13 players will be adequately exposed to competitive cricket which is hoped will facilitate their growth and development for future GCB’s two-year incremental development programs such as the National Under-15, Under-17, and Under-19 training programmes.
The GCB has established structured cricket development programmes for their Under-11, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19, and Senior levels.
The Under-11s are being prepared through the Republic Bank Five for Fun Cricket Development programme.
Additionally, the GCB and Republic Bank are in the planning stages of initiating a national Under-23 Inter-Club Tournament.
President of the GCB Bissoondyal Singh expressed delight at being able to positively engage the President of the TTCB Azim Bassarath.
“Both territorial boards are keen on exposing our future professional cricketers at an early age to the highest competitive standards possible. We recognize the need for children to develop their art, bowling, batting, and fielding in a fun-related manner,” he said.
“However, we strongly believe that players in the Under-13 age group can begin to challenge their minds a bit more than is currently being done. Learning cricket techniques is good but executing the respective skills in competitive environments will set the players on a greater path to success.”
President Singh added that the U13 initiative paves the way for a regional Under-13 tournament.
“We believe in promoting the training aspects of cricket so that players can inculcate the recommended practices for the game as well as a person,” he said.
“Our planned cricket academy which will cater to the needs of players ages seven to 17, is geared at making our players rounded cricketers. In addition to technical and skill development, our academy focuses on areas of cricket laws, scoring, match referee and umpire duties and etiquette including personal communication, interviewing as a priority activity, and psychology.”