TORONTO, Canada — Participation in the 2015 Guyana Softball Cup, organised by the Guyana Floodlights Softball Cricket Association (GFSCA), is high on the agenda of the Ontario Softball Cricket League (OSCL), and according to president Albert Ramcharran his entity will be making strenuous efforts to field a full-strength team providing the players show greater interest.

Towards this end, the OSCL will, for the first time, introduce white balls to its competition, albeit in the 10/10 tournament when the 2015 gets under way in May. This announcement was greeted with approval from members who had gathered at the Agincourt Centre here, Scarborough, for the association’s annual general meeting last Sunday.
Ramcharran had previously cited the use of white balls, predominantly used in Guyana, as one of the reasons for the poor showing of teams from Canada in the annual softball extravaganza. This year’s tournament is set to be held on October 30, 31 and November 1.
Powerhouse champions Dant represented the OSCL in last year’s tournament but the organisation will be endeavouring to send a team of its own on this occasion.
At Sunday’s meeting, which was described as one of the best attended in years, a few changes were proposed and adopted in the OSCL’s constitution. Notably among them was allowing executives to serve any amount of years instead of the two-year term which was previously in force.
Another major change was the leverage giving the executive committee the right to evict one of their own whom they deem to be non-functioning instead of the previously drawn-out system.
The latter change was prompted by the unilateral withdrawal of the services of the secretary of the association during the course of the season because of a misunderstanding on the interpretation of certain rules which saw her team fail to turn up for a playoff encounter.
Adhering to the secretary’s action in his hard-hitting report, Ramcharran reminded members that rules cannot be changed during the course of the season and the annual general meeting was the right forum for any proposed changes.
The long-standing executive member who was part of the OSCL at its launching some 20 years ago, was however elated at the organisation’s performance in the last season, describing it as one of the best with the annual family day and presentation ceremony being the standout achievements.
The OSCL celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and while not disclosing what form the celebrations will take, Ramcharran hinted that something special is in store.
The Disciplinary Committee, headed by vice-president Terry Mathura came in for much flack but according to the chairman the main reason for its inaction was the inability of some members, who had volunteered to serve, failing to attend meetings. With some new faces on board, Mathura was hopeful that this will significantly alleviate the problems.
A significant selection was made among the executives with newcomer Harpaul Beharry elected as the new secretary.
The only other changes were those in the Disciplinary Committee. Apart from Mathura, the other members are Ian Baldeo, Mark Khan, Amit Bacchus, Mark Moosai and Naresh Bodhoo.
Those retained in their positions are president – Albert Ramcharran, vice-president -Terry Mathura, treasurer – Kim Sue, assistant secretary/treasurer – Bobby Ramlagan, .East End Coordinator – Vish Jadunauth, registrar/statistician – Patrick Persaud, assistant registrar/statistician/West End Coordinator – Ranjan Persaud, and PRO/web master – Ravendra Madholall.