By Ravi Madholall
Former West Indies opening batsman Rajindra Chandrika hit an impressive century for Vikings Cricket Club recently in the 2019 Toronto and District Cricket Association Super9 50-over competition at King City venue.
The right-handed Chandrika, who has represented West Indies in five tests so far, stroke five fours and four sixes in his 110 as Vikings defeated Islanders Cricket Club by 78 runs in another round match.
Vikings batted first and reached a challenging 220-8 off the 50-overs while Islanders only responded with 132 all out in the 34th over.
Meanwhile, former Guyana under-19 left-arm spinner Dennis Legay plying his trade for Islanders, bagged a six-wicket haul despite his team suffered a 13-run loss to Yorkshire Cricket Club at the same venue last weekend. Yorkshire rattled up a competitive 203 all out off 35.5 overs while Islanders were dismissed for 187 in the 46th over.
Canadian batsman Navneet Dhaliwal hit an aggressive 93 for Yorkshire as Legay collected six wickets for 46 runs from his ten-over spell. His skipper and ex-Canada off-spinner Afzal Dean snatched three wickets for 43 runs from 8.5 overs.
When Islanders batted, Dean returned to be the principal score with 40 while another former Guyana first-class opening batsman Shemroy Barrington scored 18 runs.
Legay stated that he wants to represent Canada at the international level having taken up residence here now in North America.
The Malteenoes Sports Club player also mentioned his aim is to take wickets consistently at this level, the highest divisional cricket in Canada, which is being used to select players for ICC assignments.
The 27-year-old Legay also believes that hard work is necessary to wear the Canadian sports colours. Like Legay, Chandrika also is hoping to suit up again in the prestigious maroon colours sooner rather later. According to 30-year-old Chandrika, he is fully fit now after he would have fractured one of his fingers while he was playing regional four-day cricket the last season. Chandrika said he has been up here to keep playing competitive cricket and already fashioned a half-century (51) in the same tournament too which is boosting his confidence immensely.
Apart from Chandrika, Legay and Barrington, several other ex and current Guyanese cricketers are featuring in Canada’s club cricket this season again. Among them are former Guyana and West Indies limited-over player Royston Crandon, Trevon Garraway, Eugen LaFluer, Ryan Ramdass, Zaheer Haniff, Azib Ali Hanif, Troy Gobin, Sunil Dhaniram, Devon Ramnauth, Steve Ramdass, Rovindra Mandolall, Herman Latcha, Krishna Deosaran and Troy Gonsalves.