By Frederick Halley

TORONTO, Canada — Attempts by the Ontario Softball Cricket League (OSCL) to reintroduce white balls into the 2017 season, set to commence in May, were met with mixed reaction by its members at Sunday’s annual general meeting, held at the Agincourt Community Centre, Scarborough here.
Confusion reigned over whether the balls should be used for all three of the league’s tournaments, namely the T10, 15-over and 20-over regular season matches with some teams maintaining they should be used for all three while some reasoned they should only be used for the T10 as was done in 2015.
On the other hand, some teams complained bitterly that the white balls shouldn’t be used at all, citing safety as their main concerns since they felt the conditions of the grounds here weren’t suitable to that type of balls.
After heated debates and deliberations, the OSCL executives decided to shelve the idea, thereby reverting to the use of the supreme balls for the upcoming season.
The white balls, which are used exclusively in Guyana, New York, Florida and Orlando where international tournaments are being held annually, were introduced here by the OSCL in its T10 tournament in 2015. However, following complaints by members at the 2016 annual general meeting, the league discontinued their use.
Among the other major decisions taken at the meeting were to separate the A and B conferences for the T10 and 15-over tournaments with each conference having its own play-off and championship game, all no-balls be free hits and no-balls be called for deliveries above the shoulder in a standing position. Super overs will also be used in case of tied games and no games shall go beyond the scheduled time, except in the case of a tie-breaker.
Previously, the A and B conference teams were bunched together for the T10 and 15-over tournaments and played against the other, depending on the draws but several B division teams felt it was an unfair advantage.
Giving an overview of his stewardship, long-standing president Albert Ramcharran described 2016 as one of the most challenging seasons “but thanks to the efforts of our hard-working executives and the sober heads of most of our players, we have been able to overcome most of the obstacles.”
According to Ramcharran, there are a few members within the OSCL ho are bent and making every effort to bring disrepute to the league. He referred to incidents on and off the field as ample proof of his disclosure.
Ramcharran however pointed out that he would like to reiterate that while overall, the discipline could be considered quite satisfactory during the last season, a few issues still remained unsettled and worrying but the league intends to deal with them very firmly. “We have no intentions of sitting idly by and let anyone ruin what we have striven to build in 21 years.”
Ramcharran also announced that the OSCL will once again engage the umpires prior to the start of the new season to explore and find a common ground on several matters, including the contentious issue of pelting.
The OSCL, Ramcharran pointed out, has embarked on an initiative to assist the needy in Guyana on an annual basis and late last year donated cash to the Red Cross Convalescent Home and for this year, another charitable organisation will benefit.
The OSCL president extended sincere thanks to the several sponsors, including Home Trust, Harri Sukhu and Norman Sue Bakery for their continued support.
Based on the constitution, only three posts were contested at the meeting, that of vice-president, assistant secretary/treasurer and assistant registrar/statistician. All three incumbents, Terry Mathura, Bobby Ramlagan and Ranjan Persaud respectively were returned unopposed.
The entire executives read: Albert Ramcharran – president; Terry Mathura – vice-president; Frederick Halley – secretary/Public Relations Officer; Kim Sue – treasurer; Vish Jadunauth – East end coordinator; Patrick Prashad – registrar/statistician, Bobby Ramlagan – assistant secretary/treasurer and Ranjan Persaud – assistant registrar/statistician.
The five members of the disciplinary committee, which is being chaired by Mathura, were also returned unopposed. They are Ian Baldeo, Nandalall Bodo, Nazir Khan, Rudy Bhoopaul and Pooran (Rajin) Roopchand.