… Yunis Motara lone newcomer among executive body

By Frederick Halley

AS part of its restructuring plans for the new season, Scarborough Cricket Association (SCA) will, among other things, introduce a T20 league.

The season will also see only the Elite, Premiere and First Division teams compete in 50-over competitions. Teams in the Second Division will play 40 overs while those in the Third Division will don colours in 30 overs.

The women’s division, which has seen a growth over the past few years, has been increased to 30 overs, upped from 20 since its introduction. Previously, all the men’s divisions were played over 50 overs.

Among the other disclosures made by incumbent president Shiv Persaud at last Sunday’s Annual General Meeting were plans for the SCA to play representative cricket against other associations/leagues that are members of Cricket Ontario and across Canada.

According to the Guyanese-born Persaud, playing against other associations/leagues will provide much needed exposure for the junior, women and senior cricketers to grow and improve their cricketing skills and the SCA intends to subsidise this initiative. “We are working on initiatives that can make this possible and are well supported by Cricket Ontario who has shown a keen interest for junior and women cricketers from Scarborough to be exposed at the Provincial and national levels.”

Persaud pointed out that the SCA is proud to have several of our junior players representing Cricket Ontario and  its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Vish Jadunauth serving as the manager. “We applaud Cricket Ontario for the work they are doing and look forward to be a vital member in working with them to achieve their short-term and long-term planning goals.”

Persaud, who was recently appointed secretary of Cricket Ontario, said his focus has always been and will continue to be about advancing the sport of cricket rather than on positions or recognition. “I will continue to ensure that cricket is the priority and not political motivations.”

Touching on the growth of the SCA, Persaud alluded to the fact that “over the past season, we have seen a record number of teams and it is rapidly growing leading into the 2019 season. This particularly bodes well for the growth of cricket and we are proud to be leading this upward trend.

“As a result of the growth we are experiencing, there is a larger proportion of newer clubs and managers are adapting quickly to the standards, constitution and playing conditions. We understand that this will take some time and effort, so we kindly ask that you be patient with us as well.”

Persaud mentioned that although there were more successes than challenges in 2018, “we feel that there are many areas in which the association can do a lot better. Throughout the year, our executive body made sure that our plans were executed successfully. For example, we were able to run off the SCA T20 Bash on the Canada Day long weekend. However, I strongly feel that there are a lot of greater things that can be accomplished with the special talent, intelligence, work ethic and expertise of our executive body.

“Our executives are key contributors to the growth of our organisation and I would like to applaud them for their continued commitment. I strongly believe we can do a lot better to function more efficiently and effectively, so I am anxiously looking forward to a stellar 2019.”

Speaking specifically on women’s cricket, Persaud said “we got a breakthrough on one of our major hurdles in 2018 and that was giving our women cricketers the opportunity to play a higher level of cricket and hopefully represent Canada. I was able to serve on the Cricket Ontario Women’s Committee that was responsible for organising training camps, trials and a Cricket Ontario Canada Cup tournament which eventually led to Cricket Canada Nationals.”

Based on the SCA’s constitution, only four posts were contested at Sunday’s meeting with Bisham Singh (vice-president), Mathew Francis (assistant secretary/assistant Chief Finance Officer) and Arslan Khan (Public Relations Officer/Marketing) retaining their positions. The lone newcomer was Yunis Motara who replaced Fareed Mohamed as the assistant grounds coordinator.

Persaud (president), Eon Gunraj (secretary), Vish Jadunauth (Chief Financial Officer), Abigail Rajkumar (registrar/statistician), Deo Samaroo (grounds coordinator) and Abhinav Kavuru (webmaster) posts weren’t up for grabs. Rajkumar holds the distinction of being the lone female on the executive body.

Meanwhile, the 2019 season is set to get underway on May 11.