01 Jul 2019

Local cricket administrator Girish Ramakrishna says focusing on grassroots development while working for Botswana Cricket Association (BCA) prepared him for his current role as cricket development director for Africa.

Ramakrishna, worked for a long time as chief executive officer of the BCA until last year in July. 

He was recently re-elected the development director for Africa Cricket Association (ACA) at the continental body’s annual conference, which was held in Nairobi, Kenya.

Immediately after his re-appointment, Ramakrishna pointed out that other countries had full confidence in him due to his extensive track record in grassroots development.

“The post entails me to verify the status of cricket played in the country, implement the development strategies of ACA, coordinate with the regional development officers of the various regions, and develop the priorities for ACA,” he explained in a brief interview.

He said the development activities ACA plans to carry out this year, would rely on the amount of funding available.  He said it was important for Botswana cricket to be represented at continental and global level in order to continue growing.

Ramakrishna stated that he particularly had full backing in his ACA mandate from southern African countries because they had seen him execute his duties brilliantly during his time as BCA CEO.

“They have engaged with me and have confidence in me to deliver. They have seen my initiative in the women’s cricket, which I used to host regularly in Botswana since 2011 and which became so popular,” he said.

He said ACA was now working on more awareness through the social media platforms as their focus was on youth, adding that they were working on the finals of the ACA T20 tournament to be held in Nairobi either at the end of August or first week of September, where eight countries will participate.

“Botswana have already qualified from the southern region. Qualifiers were held in November last year. It augurs well for a sporting code to be represented at continental level. It meets the high level targets set by the BNSC too,” he said. 

Ramakrishna was first roped into ACA executive committee in 2017 as its development director, the role entails being responsible for development of cricket in the whole of Africa region. Ends