By Frederick Halley

TORONTO, Canada — Scarborough Cricket Association (SCA) president Shiv Persaud has described 2019 as a breakthrough year for the association since it was able to make advancements in the areas of playing representative cricket and generate more excitement with different formats of cricket.

According to the Guyanese-born Persaud, “SCA was successful in brilliantly hosting the Kumar Rampat Cricket Academy from Trinidad and Tobago. This experience generated raving reviews on the talent of players on display from the visiting academy and generated impressive support from avid cricket lovers.

Persaud, who made the remarks in his message to mark the 39^th anniversary of the SCA, stated that “our youth players formed great friendship with the visiting academy players and created possibilities of playing cricket abroad in the future. We are thrilled at the response of this initiative and will explore our options to take our youths on tour in the near future.”

 Persaud also pointed to an unprecedented level of interest from prospective members wanting to become a part of the association. “This to us, along with the growth over the past four years is a huge acknowledgement of the hard work, dedication and commitment of the entire Executive board and the incredible support of our existing members. We will continue to ensure that the SCA remains an intriguing and coveted association to play organised cricket at the youth, women and open categories.”

Boasting about other achievements, Persaud said “we were also successful in organising a women’s exhibition game at the invitation of the Guyana Independence Festival Committee. Our women displayed great skills and represented themselves exceptionally well. This past cricket season also saw many of our women players represent Canada at the national level.”

The dynamic president said he was hoping that Cricket Ontario would schedule inter-league competitions in the future so that players across all categories of the SCA can have more exposure and experience competing against other players. “We are looking to put forward a better showing in the Canada Central T20 competition with our best players.”

Persaud disclosed that the SCA is working with different councillors and the City of Toronto Parks and Recreation to have access to more indoor and outdoor cricket facilities. “We urge you, our members to write letters of support and reach out to your respective councillors as well to support us in this initiative. As we celebrate the success of our 2019 cricket season, we are also beginning the planning for our 40^th Anniversary as a cricket Association. This is a milestone achievement for us and we are actively planning various activities to celebrate and look forward to your participation.”

 Persaud reiterated that “it is with great pleasure that we celebrate the success and individual achievements of our members on this glamorous evening to close the fourth decade while at the same time launching the fifth decade of cricket in Scarborough. It is truly a monumental achievement that we should all be proud of and celebrate together.

“We are grateful to have supportive sponsors who continue to provide valuable contributions benefiting our youths and Women cricketers. We look forward to the continued commitment from our members, players, sponsors, supporters and executive board as we work together to achieve our common vision of making cricket a mainstream sport in Canada.”

The SCA president extended hearty congratulations to all individual and team awardees on their accomplishments in 2019, pointing out that it was an honour and privilege to be leading the Scarborough Cricket Association at a time when it is making great strides in promoting and developing cricket in the community.