Reliance Scheme beat defending champions Reliance by 85 runs in the ninth edition of the Shivanandan Mandholall memorial match on Sunday last at Reliance Sports ground, Essequibo Coast, Region Two.

Former Essequibo under-19 opening batsman, Mark Austin, slammed a belligerent, unbeaten 107 as Reliance Scheme amassed a formidable 252-5 from the allotted 20-overs while Reliance, in reply, was left stranded at 167-9 when the overs ran out.

The right-handed Austin smacked 10 sixes and five fours. He got good support from Keeran Boodhram who hit an enterprising 52 not out. Ex-Essequibo Senior Inter-County player Ramesh Narine also entertained the crowd with 51.

When Reliance batted, opener Kumar Dass struck 58 as Narine returned to take 2-19 from his four overs. Thanka Persaud also claimed two wickets for 21 runs, delivering three overs.

In the over-40, T20 softball game too, preceding the second match for the Seeram Mandholall trophy, Reliance Sports Club (RSC) humbled Reliance Hustlers by 30 runs. Seeram was the father of Shivanandan; he met his demise in 2017. RSC reached 178-5 from the 20-overs and then kept Hustlers to 148 all out in the penultimate over.

Dass led the way for RSC with 46. Ravendra Madholall supported with 37 not out and 35 from Sugrim Ahiram and an unbeaten 21 by Bridgelall Lall. Narine grabbed two wickets for 17 runs in his four-over outing. In Hustlers’ innings, Mahase Lall and his brother Dashnie Lall scored 41 and 26 respectively to put up a fight. Two wickets each went to Mandholall, Elroy Stephney and Dhanny Benny. In the opening category, Austin was named player-of-the-match while Mandholall copped the over-40 division one.

At the presentation, the winning and runners-up teams, along with Austin and Mandholall, received a trophy each. Trophies were donated by former national youth player Rovendra Mandolall, the eldest brother of Shivanandan; Rovendra also represented Guyana at the youth level. Shivanandan passed away in 2013 at the age of 30 due to Malaria. Ravendra thanked the teams for their participation.

He acknowledged the support of Rovendra and their sister Momzo. Stephney took the opportunity to reflect on Shivanandan‘s life and his contribution to the game. Travis Simon, the skipper of Hustlers, also spoke glowingly of Shivanandan since they played club cricket for many years. Other team captains, Premnauth Persaud (RSC) and Bridgelall Lall (Reliance) echoed similar sentiments.