Reliance All-Stars retained the Shivanandan Madholall Memorial trophy after defeating Wild Oats by three wickets in an exciting game played at the Anna Regina Community Centre ground tarmac, Essequibo Coast.
The match was originally set for Boxing Day at Reliance ground also on the coast but heavy overnight and early morning showers forced the postponement to few
The victorious Reliance All-Stars team strikes a pose with their trophies and medals after the game
days later.
On game day at Anna Regina, Wild Oats won the toss and without hesitation opted to take first strike but only made an insufficient 93-8 from the allotment of 15-overs while Reliance All-Stars, in reply, safely reached 96-7 with 10 balls to spare.
Leading the way was the experienced Cecil Shivamber with 24 not out while useful contributions came from Sunil Lall and Narindra Madholall with 19 and 17 respectively. Seon Wallace claimed two wickets for 17 runs from his three overs.
Earlier, Permanand Persaud top-scored for Wild Oats with 24 as Ravi Madholall claimed three wickets for 12 runs in his three-over spell.
Ryan Shivamber, who was later adjudged Man-of-the-Match by adjudicator Romain Khan, hit a six, claimed a wicket, effected a run-out and took a catch, all at crucial stages of the game.
In the other match to open the day’s proceedings, Mandolall’s X1 beat Reliance Masters by 22 runs. Mandolall’s XI batted first and chalked up a competitive 72-7 from their 10-overs with Narindra Madholall hitting 26. The Masters only responded with 50 for 9 when the overs expired as Narindra returned to claim three victims to take home the MVP prize.
In another exhibition match Cotton Field got the better of Bush Lot by 15 runs in a 12 over a-side affair.
At the presentation ceremony, the elder brother of the Shivanandan, Rovendra thanked the teams for their participation and reserved special mention to the various sponsors. And some of those are Dent Wizard and PGI Ltd, Baksh Brothers, GE Plastics, Anil Sarwan, Sunrisers Cricket team, Rems, Avinash Singh among others all of Canada. Jerseys for the teams were also provided while medals were given out to all the participating players. Rovendra, a former Guyana youth cricketer, related that the two main trophies were played for Shivanandan, who passed away in 2013 at the age of 30.
Shivanandan represented Guyana at the under-15 and under-19 levels. The other trophy was in memory for his father, Seeram Madholall, who died early 2017 at the age of 64. In addition to that, special remarks on Shivanandan’s life were mentioned by two former senior inter-county players Elroy Stephney and Raul Khan.
