By Frederick Halley

MARK Lall was the lone new face among the executives when Scarborough Cricket Association (SCA) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) last Sunday.
Lall was elected unopposed as the association’s Assistant Grounds Coordinator after incumbent Deo Samaroo decided not to serve out his remaining year of the two-year stint.
The meeting was held virtually via Zoom for the first time in the 41-year history of the association and based on the SCA’s constitution only four posts were contested with Bisham Singh (vice-president), Mathew Francis (Assistant secretary/assistant Chief Finance Officer), Craig Murdoch (Public Relations Officer/Marketing) retaining their positions.
Long-standing president Shiv Persaud, secretary Eon Gunraj, Chief Financial Officer Vish Jadunauth, Registrar/statistician Abigail Rajkumar (the lone female on the executive body), grounds coordinator Calvin Alexander and Webmaster Abhinav Kavuru all retained their posts.

The SCA had the unique distinction of being the only entity in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to complete its season last year despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. After a 11-week delay, the shortened season got underway the first week of August, ending the first week of October.
President Shiv Persaud is optimistic that the 2021 season will commence on May 8 with teams being able to compete in 14 games in the various divisions prior to the planned playoffs. He, however, cautioned that this will depend on guidelines from the government health authorities.
The Guyana-born Persaud reminded those in attendance that “we are all in this together and have the personal responsibility to ensure we keep ourselves and family safe at all times by following all the public health guidelines.” Persaud pointed out that he was extremely proud of the members and executives for ensuring the full completion of the shortened season without any health emergency.

“Our objective was to maximise the number of games so our players can maintain a healthy forum to interact and engage in physical activity through the sport of cricket. This played a vital role in helping us to cope with the emotional and stressful circumstances we are faced with.”
The president congratulated the teams finishing at the top of their respective groups and players who turned in outstanding individual performances.
Persaud lamented the fact that youths and women divisions were severely impacted as they did not have any participation for season games and the senior competition saw less participation than initially planned. He, however, looks forward to a record participation for the 2021 season.
“As we look forward to 2021 and beyond, I will continue to ensure we strive to constantly improve the quality and level of cricket as well as the facilities. I would like to reinforce that our league has been growing and this require full participation from everyone serving as an executive to fulfil his roles. We do hope that 2021 will allow us to have a full season and an exciting one.”