Guwahati: The Assam Cricket Association (ACA) has set up a platform to bring back former cricketers and officials associated with the association to the thick of things and use their experience to uplift cricket in the state.
Christened the ‘91 Yards Club’ and developed by the association, the ACA aims to utilise the club as a meeting place for the former players to manoeuvre the apex cricket body of the state in the right direction.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma inaugurated the facility on Thursday evening in the presence of a host of dignitaries including Taranga Gogoi, MLA, Naharkatia LAC, and the apex council members of Assam Cricket Association.
CM Sarma, after giving a blow-by-blow account of the journey of the game of cricket in Assam, stated that the ‘91 Yards Club’ would provide a “never-seen-before opportunity to the veterans, well-wishers and patrons associated with the game to use their expertise for the betterment of cricket in the state”.
ACA president Romen Dutta told the gathering about how committed the members of the present apex council of Assam Cricket Association were with respect to the development of the game in the state.
Delivering the welcome address, ACA secretary Devajit Saikia conveyed his heartiest gratitude to the chief minister, who is also the former president of Assam Cricket Association, for his ever-supportive outlook towards the association.
Saikia also informed that the chief minister has assumed the office of the president of the ’91 Yards Club’ since Thursday.
He also highlighted the significance of the said club, and the way it would serve as a “meeting place to manoeuvre Assam Cricket Association in the right direction”.
Earlier, the annual awards function 2021-22 of Assam Cricket Association and prize distribution ceremony of Assam Premier Club Championship 2021-22 and the maiden inter-institution cricket tournament were also held at the ACA Banquet and Lawn.
Members of the apex council of Assam Cricket Association and Gautam Roy, former president of Assam Cricket Association, were present on the occasion.
In his speech, ACA president Dutta spoke about how the association was making sweeping changes in the realm of the game throughout the state. He also urged the budding players to make the most of the opportunities being provided.
ACA secretary Saikia, in his address, said that the annual awards function served as an occasion to laud and felicitate the talented players of the state who managed to outshine the rest with their stellar performances during the last domestic season of BCCI.
Speaking of the maiden inter-institution cricket tournament of Assam Cricket Association, he asserted that the said tournament was very likely to have a trickle-down effect, resulting in employment generation for talented cricketers.
During the event, 32 cricket academies and coaching centres, from all across the state, were also offered accreditation under ACA Cricket Academy.
The overall objective behind this accreditation drive is to bring about a standard and uniformity in the way the game of cricket is being taught across Assam.
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