ABU Rubait Alam was the lone new face among the executives when the Scarborough Cricket Association (SCA) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Sunday. Alam was elected unopposed as the association’s Webmaster after incumbent Abhinav Kavuru did not seek re-election.

The meeting was held virtually via Zoom for the second consecutive year and based on the SCA’s constitution only four posts were contested with Shiv Persaud (President), Eon Gunraj (Secretary), Vish Jadunauth (Chief Financial Officer), Calvin Alexander (Grounds Coordinator) and Abigial Rajkumar (Registrar/Statistician), the lone female on the executive body, all retaining their posts.

The other executive members, whose positions weren’t up for grabs this year, are Bisham Singh, (Vice-president); Matthew Francis (Assistant Secretary/Treasurer); Mark Lall (Assistant Grounds Co-ordinator) and Frederick Halley, who was appointed Public Relations Officer/Marketing last November following the resignation of Craig Murdoch.

The SCA had the distinction of completing its season last year despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. President Persaud is optimistic that the 2022 season will commence in May with teams being able to compete in 14 games in the various divisions prior to the planned playoffs.

The Guyana-born Persaud, however, reminded those in attendance that “the health and safety of our members are of the utmost priority for us to have a successful season. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to my fellow executives for all their hard work, commitment and sacrifices throughout the year. Your efforts have never gone without being noticed. We are grateful to have the most supportive and engaged members that have transformed the association to heights never seen before in the SCA.”

Persaud described 2021 as a historic season that saw many barriers eliminated, while progress continued. “We started the year uncertain whether we will have the ability to play any games. In what was a repeat of another shortened season, we were able to complete our season successfully across all formats. Delightfully we saw sizable turnout of spectators during the finals that haven’t been seen in the recent years.”

According to the president, the SCA began the year by increasing the number of qualified coaches with five completing the Cricket Ontario-hosted National Coaching Certification Programme and Cricket Canada Level 1 coaching certificate. “We proceeded with the safety guidelines to begin our season and was allocated extended time in October. This presented the opportunity for us to host the T20 Super Knockout Tournament which was well received by our members with 16 teams taking part; they rated their experience highly.

“With three teams participating, we launched our first ever Over 50 Division for the first time ever. The Over 50 Division was a huge success for the SCA with many players continuing to stay engaged in the game competitively. We have since received five new requests from clubs requesting to join the Over 50 Division.

The SCA hosted a touring Cricket West Indies Masters Association team in a friendly that showcased many high profiled players of past years.”

Persaud highlighted that the SCA ended the year with a golden breakthrough for the hosting of the first ever Winter Cricket Season which is slated to be held annually. “This initiative would not have been possible without the incredible support from the five teams participating to kick off the inaugural edition.”

(Frederick Halley)