By Ravi Madholall in Toronto
Right-handed top-order batsman Hemnarine Chattergoon has called it a day on his hardball cricketing career but will continue to play professionally in the softball game.
Hemnarine Chattergoon will focus more on his family and softball cricket.
He made this announcement on Monday after playing his final hardball match on Sunday representing defending champion Hawaiian Arctic Cricket Club in the 2016 Elite Scarborough Cricket Association (SCA) 50-over semi-final against Victoria Park at Ashtonbee ground.
Chattergoon, the elder brother of former Guyana and West Indies opening batsman Sewnarine Chattergoon, stated that his main reason to hang up his gloves was due mainly to family commitment and to focus thoroughly on the softball matches.
He is currently an active member of Dant Cricket Club, a team that has been dominant over the past ten years in both the Canadian Softball Cricket Association and Ontario Softball Cricket League (OSCL) Open tournaments.
Chattergoon also topped the runs aggregate with 382 runs from 14 matches at the OSCL 2016 edition.
In addition to that, Chattergoon also plays for New York Enforcers on a regular basis. New York Enforcers is the reigning Toronto Cup 20-over Open Category champion.
According to Chattergoon, whose two younger brothers, Ramnarine and Harrienarine also featured in the Guyana colors at the youth level, mentioned it was fantastic to play the game from a tender age of 10 to Sunday when Arctic was eliminated.
He began his cricketing career at Albion Sports Complex, a vibrant Cricket Club that has great reputation to produce some fine cricketers at both regional and international levels.
The Berbice club also hosted one-day internationals and Chattergoon singled out coach Fabian Naiken and then manager Vement Walters for their supporting roles at the developmental stage.
“I think I am happy to say goodbye to the hardball game now; I really enjoyed it but I still will be playing cricket [softball version], I must say thanks to all those who supported me throughout my career in a variety ways,” the 39-year-old Chattergoon related.
Having represented Guyana at the Under-19 level and then went on to play for the West Indies youth team, Chattergoon declared that scoring a century for the West Indies young side against Pakistan in Barbados (1997) was one of his happiest cricketing moments.
“I enjoyed the game a lot of times but scoring a hundred for the under-19 West Indies team especially when we were asked to follow-on and then got the opportunity to bat and scored a hundred is still memorable,” Chattergoon said.
Since migrating to Canada approximately 19 years ago, Chattergoon continued to ply his trade here representing Transzac Cricket Club before moved across to Cavaliers Cricket Club.
In 2005, Chattergoon started off with Vikings Cricket Club all in the Toronto and District Cricket Association limited-over competitions.
During this time Chattergoon represented Canada international team debuting in 2007 versus United Arab Emirates and his last game came against Zimbabwe in 2010.
“I was delighted to play for Canada at the highest level; I think competing against international sides was a great privilege and I want to encourage aspiring cricketers to train hard and stay focused and committed at all time,” Chattergoon expressed.
In 2010 Chattergoon decided to switch to the SCA competition and has shown phenomenal consistency over the years with the bat including a double-century in 2015 for Arctic.
He led the team to three of their six consecutive titles ranging from 2009 to 2015. He took over the captaincy in 2013 and lifted the trophy for the past three occasions.
Arctic has formed over two decades ago and Chattergoon expressed gratitude to one the founding members and current president Archie Mohan along with several dedicated executives for their frequent support.
He made special mention of his spouse Lena for her continued presence and support during his latter part of his hardball career. He further stated that his mom (decease) and dad were also very instrumental in his upbringing to achieve so much on the field.