By Tajeram Mohabir
The Yadram family of Enterprise, East Coast Demerara has scored what is probably a first in the sport of cricket.Semangal and Shameeza Yadram together have three children, two boys and a girl, and now, all of them have played cricket at the national level.
The achievement might not be too surprising as Semangal is a lover of the sport, a love he developed as a boy going to the Enterprise Cricket Ground to see his father play.
He later became a member of the team, but before that, his father-in-law also played for the same team.
It is safe or probably enterprising to say that there is a Yadram cricket clan.
Several other members of the family have played and currently play for the Enterprise team.
In 2013, the Yadram family celebrated an outstanding achievement, even though it passed unnoticed in the local cricketing fraternity.
Their three children, Kavita now 21, Bhaskar 21 and Kamesh 16, all played for Guyana that year. Kavita managed to break into the senior women’s side as a specialist batter; Bhaskar made the Under 19 team, while their younger brother Kamesh captained the Guyana Under-15 side.
It is quite common for all the males in a family to play the widely followed sport in Guyana. It is also common for local girls and women to fall in love with the sport to the extent that they play it as a pastime.
But never before, with the exception of the Yadram siblings, has a family produced children, where both the sons and daughter played cricket for Guyana at the national level.
Semangal told the Guyana Chronicle that his boys love cricket, and so too his daughter. And more encouragingly, she is as good as the boys when they play.
Kavita, who is medium built and forthright in speech, started out as an all-rounder playing soft ball cricket for the Enterprise women’s team. In a bid to advance, she began playing hardball. That was the stage where she began to hone her skills to take her game to the next level.

Break through
In 2011, after participating in the Guyana Cricket Board of Control (GCB) Under-19 trials, she was selected for the national team. The following two years, Kavita performed creditably and her good showing earned her a place in the women’s national side, a place she still holds.
“It is a great joy, privilege and lifetime opportunity to be playing for my county, Guyana. The experience is simply awesome. I get to play against some of the best female cricketers in the Caribbean, including those who play for the Women’s West Indies team. That sort of exposure gives you the motivation to put your best foot forward, which I do,” a passionate Kavita told the Guyana Chronicle.
The young lady said she continues to work hard on her game and her immediate goal is to make the Women’s West Indies team.
Her brother, Bhaskar, who represented Guyana at the Under 15 and Under-19 levels, said he is hoping to one day play for the senior national side.
For now, he has been playing contract cricket in Trinidad and Tobago. Bhaskar plays for the team Rousillac United and when in Guyana he players for the Enterprise Busta Sports Team and the Ghandi Youth Organisation.
He has been called twice for trial for the national side but never made the team. According to him, making it into the national side is a challenge.
He said attention should always be placed on performance and not name.
His younger brother Kamesh, who is still in school, also intends to make cricket his career. He began to develop a passion for the game by looking at his elder brother and sister play.

Rising star
Kamesh, who is viewed as the rising star in his family, in 2014 did both Guyana and his family proud. Under his captaincy, Guyana won the West Indies regional Under-15 cricket tournament for the first time in more than a decade.
The boy and his elder brother told this publication that aside from them, they are many young cricketers on the East Coast and West Coast of Demerara who love the sport, but not much attention is given to them by local cricket administrators in helping them to develop their skills.
The brothers say that the day must come, sooner rather than later, when talented cricketers from outside of Georgetown do not have to travel to the City and play for a City club to get recognition.
The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), they noted should work on developing strong cricket clubs outside of the Capital that are as good as the top clubs there.
And for Kavita, the cricket authorities need to pay more attention to female cricket in Guyana since the women can make as much an impact and impression as their male counterparts.
The Yadram siblings during the interview thanked their parents, sponsors, friends and well-wishers who have encouraged and supported them in playing a sport that they love with passion.
Their father Semangal said he is super proud of his children.