The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) was founded in 1943, taking over control of cricket in all of Guyana from the Georgetown Cricket Club. This followed the formation of the Berbice Cricket Board in 1939. William Stanley Jones, then president of the Georgetown Cricket Club, became the first president of the GCB. Jones, who was born in New Amsterdam and who donated the famous Jones Cup to the GCB in 1954, was president of the British Guiana Sugar Company at that time.
Before the formation of the GCB, first division cricket was played for the Parker Cup in Demerara (mostly Georgetown) and the Davson Cup in Berbice. Though Parker Cup and Davson Cup competition was open to players of all races, club membership often followed race lines.
In 1917 Thomas Flood, president of the British Guiana East Indian Cricket Club (now Everest) introduced the Flood Cup for inter-county competition involving East Indians only. In 1919 the Kawall Cup was introduced for competition between East Indians of British Guiana, Trinidad and Dutch Guiana. Both Flood Cup and Kawall Cup competitions ended in 1938. The introduction of the Jones Cup for inter-county competition open to players of all races in 1954 indicated the end of race-based competition.
Past GCB presidents include: William Stanley Jones (1943); John St Felix Dare(?); Sir Clyde Walcott (1968 - 1970); Ken Wishart (1970 - 1972); Frederick Rampersaud (1972 - 1973); Berkeley Gaskin (1973 - 1979); Joe Solomon (1979 - 1980); Major-General Norman McLean (1980 - 1991) and Chetram Singh (1991 - 2011).
When the GCB was formed in 1943, cricket was run by the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) in Berbice and by the Essequibo Cricket Committee in Essequibo. Berbice had 2 votes in the GCB - the same number as a Georgetown first division club. In 1969 the Berbice votes were increased to 3 when the rules were changed so that the BCB Chairman of Selectors would automatically be one of the five National Selectors.
In 1971 the rules changed again and Berbice gain 3 more votes, bringing its tally to 5. The Essequibo Cricket Committee became the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB), with 4 votes in the GCB. Each Georgetown first division club still had 2, for a total of 16 votes. In 1972 it was agreed that the presidents of the BCB and ECB would automatically hold the posts of 1st and 2nd Vice-Presidents in the GCB. This automaticaaly increased the Berbice votes to 6 and Essequibo votes to 5.
In 1973 several Georgetown clubs wrote then Minister of Youth, Culture and Sports Shirley Field-Ridley, expressing dissatisfaction with the administration of GCB President Frederick Rampersaud. A commission of inquiry was convened, hearings held throughout Guyana, followed by new elections, which led to Rampersaud being replaced by Berkeley Gaskin. Gaskin died in 1979, while still serving as GCB president.
In 1992 the GCB handed over control of cricket in the county of Demerara to the newly-formed Demerara Cricket Board.
In 1999, for the first time in history no regional first class matches were scheduled to be played in Guyana, at the request of GCB president Chetram Singh. This was because weather forecasts predicted unusually large amounts of rain in Guyana during the regional first class season.
More history was made in 1999 when local players donned coloured clothing for the first time in a local club competition, the Banks Premium Beer, which was won by GCC. This new practice was in keeping with international changes, but only clubs in Demerara seemed to transition smoothly at first. The other finalists, Albion of Berbice, had to resort to their own clothing after that provided by the sponsors proved inadequate.
The entire GCB executive was returned unaminously at the Annual General Meeting on 21 January 2007, at the Georgetown Cricket Club.
In 2010 Chetram Singh announced that he was retiring from cricket administration. Under his stewardship the Guyana senior team won five limited-over titles and one first-class championship, while the Guyana Under-19 team won six consecutive regional titles. Guyana also won the inaugural Stanford Twenty20 competition and the 2010 Caribbean Twenty20 championship, the latter resulting in Guyana's participation in the 2010 Airtel Champions League in South Africa.
It was during Chetram Singh's watch too that Shiv Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan emerged as leading Test figures. The Guyana National Stadium was built at Providence in 2007 for the World Cup, the Chetram Singh Centre of Excellence, an indoor practice facility and hostel was completed in 2010 at Enmore, as was the cricket hostel at Anna Regina, on the Essequibo coast.
