West Indies stars visit orphanage

Shivnarine Chanderpaul and three of his West Indies teammates delighted the boys of St John Bosco Orphanage on Wednesday afternoon when they paid a visit.

The boys could hardly believe that the master batsman who they follow on television, along with Ravi Rampaul, Narsingh Deonarine and David Bernard Jr were in their midst but, once they overcame the initial shock, they interacted with the players like long lost friends.

Chanderpaul took time out to demonstrate some batting and bowling techniques to the excited and appreciative boys, while Deonarine and Bernard chatted with them about various aspects of their lives.

Rampaul even had a petite youngster by the name of Lenny question him about fast bowling as he said he was interested in a career as a cricketer.

The players presented the boys with thirty tickets for the Second Digicel One Day International at the Guyana National Stadium on Saturday, March 6th, along with a bat which was autographed by the West Indies team.

The players were given a tour of the orphanage by administrator Grace Daniels and Chanderpaul was impressed with the small library and reading programme which he said was critical for the boys as their education must always be priority.

As the visit wound down, the boys sang songs for the players and offered them support for their games against Zimbabwe.

Seon Wood, who gave the vote of thanks, was not shy about what result he was looking for in the games.

"I thank you for coming to visit our orphanage, I hope you enjoyed your visit with us and we will be coming out to watch your victory on Saturday," Woods said to wild cheers from the boys.