MANAGING Director of Regal Stationery and Computer Centre, Mahendra ‘Anil’ Hardyal, is an ardent cricket fan and a former player of the game at the hardball level, having done so for Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) back in the late 80s and early 1990s.

Hardyal, along with Seewchan, Samuel Kingston and Ian John recently formed the Georgetown Softball Cricket League Incorporated, where they have been organising several softball competitions for teams within Georgetown and outlying areas.
However, Hardyal displayed his love for the sport yesterday morning, by supporting three players from Guyana National Industrial Corporation (GNIC), namely national Under-15 skipper Bhaskar Yadram and standby player Andrew Clifford, and their club mate Stephan Campbell.
Yadram and Clifford asked for a timeout from the preparatory encampment period the national Under-15 team are currently undergoing at the Anna Regina Hostel to be present for yesterday’s presentation, while Campbell was absent, due to academic reasons.
Campbell and Yadram each received a bat while Clifford was the recipient of a pair of bowling boots, and their coach Clive Grimmond a copy of Harold Eastman/Guardian General’s 2013 International and Annual Regional and West Indian Cricket Records.
Speaking on behalf of his teammates, Yadram, who led Demerara to the Guyana Cricket Board Under-15 Inter-County title, expressed heartfelt gratitude to Hardyal for his kind gesture, saying it will enable them to go forward in the sport.
An elated Grimmond, who initiated the gesture said it was one that came at a timely moment for the players, adding that he know they will use the gear to the fullest and best of their ability, even as they themselves are aware of the cost for same.
The national Under-15 team is at present preparing for this year’s West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional tournament which began in 1996 in Trinidad and Tobago and will be held in Jamaica from July 12, with Guyana taking on Leeward Islands at Alpart.
The tournament consists of 15 matches which will be played over five rounds with each of the six teams playing five games, which, as usual, will be over two days and will be played under tailor-made rules for cricket within this age group.
In the first innings, teams will bat for two and a half hours during which a minimum of 37 overs must be bowled, with no fast or medium pace bowler allowed more than six overs in one spell and once the players complete a spell they must rest for a mandatory period of 40 minutes before resuming bowling.
The Guyana Under-15 team reads: Bhaskar Yadram (captain), Adrian Sukhwah (wicketkeeper), Raymond Perez, Darshan Persaud, Richie Lucknauth, Ronaldo Mohamed (vice-captain), Timothy McAlmont, Mark Williams, Sagar Hetheramani, Ashmead Nedd, Matthew Hardial, Vickram Talmakund, Christopher Latchman and Sylus Tyndall.