The Board Chairman of the Liberia National Cricket Federation (LNCF), Roopesh Ram, and officials of the Sierra Leone Cricket Association (SLCA) met over the weekend to discuss the improvement of cricket in the Mano River Union.
Mr. Ram is seeking both Liberia and Sierra expedite processes leading to becoming an International Cricket Council-affiliate membership.
Present at the meeting were the Chairman of SLCA, Francis Trevor Samura, Abu Bakarr Kargbo, SLCA Board Member; Daniel Koroma, Chief Operating Officer, and members of the SLCA Media Team.
Addressing senior officials from SLCA, Chairman Ram said the LNCF is yet to become a member of the ICC.
” This is partly the reason I am here to cooperate with your chairman to help push our case at the ICC. Already, we have clubs that are presently playing in the Liberia Premier League (LPL). These clubs have players from India. And very recently, we signed two players from Sierra Leone Abass Gbla and Cherenoh Bah to make the league more competitive,” He added.
According to the Liberia National Cricket Federation Board Chairman, they are looking forward to creating a national team to enter the ICC-sanctioned competitions with various Asian countries like India, Pakistan, and Sierra Leone.
Mr. Ram said besides the national league, they have embarked on introducing Cricket in secondary learning institutions which will help improve the sport in the country.
He added that the construction of Cricket grounds and other facilities are part of their plans for the branding of the sport.
“So while awaiting ICC co-option, we want our clubs to be playing club series with clubs in Sierra Leone. At the start, we will travel to Sierra Leone to play games over the weekend and return to Liberia,” he explained, assuring Chairman Samura that the Liberia Government is in full support to see cricket being played in Liberia,” Mr. Roopesh Ram narrated.
Meanwhile, SLCA Chairman Samura thanked his counterpart for the effort to see cricket played in Liberia.
He said he has been to Liberia once on an ICC-assigned role to assess the state of cricket. This was after I had been to Ivory Coast to introduce cricket there. Today, Ivory Coast is an affiliate member of ICC.
“Liberia needs to meet ICC criteria among which is having cricket ovals, a constitution, and an office space, Mr. Samura said”.
He then promised to take the matter up with the North West Africa Cricket Council (NWACC) and the Africa Cricket Associations (ACA).
“I will make the recommendation to ICC for your membership so we can immediately form Mano River Union Cricket Associations (MRUCA) as soon as Liberia becomes a member of ICC, he promised”.
“With that, I believe, it will be easy for Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, and Liberia to travel by roads to friendly matches with each other,” he concluded.
Reported by Sports Director: Sylvester Tamba
Email: stamba498@gmail.com
Phone number: +231776687195
Whatsapp number: +231776687195
