Ontario Cricket Association (OCA), the official governing body of cricket in the province elected a new executive on Saturday April 5th 2014, when its Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place at Spice Shack on 308 Painted Post Drive, Scarborough, Ontario. The new executive is elected for a period of two years to carry out the mandate of the association. Mr. Mike Kendall, the outgoing president of the association was replaced by Mr. Gulwant (Gullu) Bajwa as the new president. Mr. Bajwa is a former 1st Vice President of OCA and former president of Ottawa Valley Cricket Council. He has been involved with Canadian cricket since 1979 as a junior and senior cricketer and an administrator.
Mr. Melvin John is the new 1st Vice-President with Mr.Bisham Singh as the 2nd Vice-President. The 3rd and 4th Vice-Presidents are Mr. Tauqir Uddin and Mr. Pavanveer Singh respectively. Mr. Azad Khan retains the position of Secretary while Mr.Vish Jadunauth was elected as the new Treasurer and at the same time appointed as the OCA Junior Coordinator. Mr. Deo Samaroo was appointed as the Senior Coordinator. Mr. Anwar Omar was appointed Umpires’ Coordinator for the first time.
Mr. Kendall said he was very satisfied with the progress made by the association during his tenure and is also confident that the new president will continue with same degree of commitment for the betterment of the cricketers and steer the association in the right direction.
He was delighted that an OCA team toured Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago last year as part of the association’s annual cricket programme. According to Mr. Kendall, the tour was a great success from a learning and development perspective even though we had limited success on the field where OCA lost some hard fought games. He also took the opportunity to thank the executives for their continued efforts during his time as the leader and stated they had executed their duties to the best of their ability.
The new president Mr. Bajwa is very excited about the tasks that are ahead of the association especially with expansions in the remote areas of Ontario. He is particularly exciting with the work that is being done in the schools and is willing to make a big difference in this development. Mr. Bajwa reiterated that his main focus is going to be the development of cricket at the grass roots level. He stated that he wants everybody to join hands through proper engagement to develop cricket in Ontario.
He spoke about the vibrancy of the association and felt he has a responsibility to maintain high standard and a great legacy that has been existing since the formation of the association over a century ago. He also reiterated the importance of overseas trips to give the players the necessary exposures which will ultimately make them well-rounded cricketers. He felt privileged and honoured to be elected as the President for OCA and thanked the delegates to have shown the confidence in him.
According to Mr. Bajwa, several special events are likely to take place during the summer too and gleefully welcomed all the new teams for this year’s edition.
Mr. Mike Kendall was unanimously appointed the President Emeritus of OCA.
The first statutory meeting is set to be held later this month at a venue to be named. All the T20, 40-overs and 50- overs competitions are scheduled to commence early May.