Mandy Mangru! A little player with big dreams

Mar 06, 2017 Sports

By Sean Devers
At just 17 years-old, National Women’s cricketer Mandy Mangru is a little player with big dreams and she has all the tools to make them come true once she works hard and remains focused on what she desires in life.

Mandy Mangru after a good batting performance for Demerara.

Mandy has already played seven times at the senior level for Guyana and still has another two years in Under-19 cricket. She first represented her country in 2013 at an Invitational U-19 tournament in Trinidad and Tobago organised by T&T’s Women’s Cricket Association and enjoyed success with bat and ball. Little Mandy was just 13 and only a bit taller than the wicket.
After returning from T&T, Mangru made her debut the same year for Demerara in the Women’s Inter-County competition.
Mangru made her entry into this World on September 22, 1999 and has lived all her life at Good Hope Mahaica. She is one of two girls and the youngest of three children born to Gowkarran Mangru and Taramatie Singh.
Mangru’s early days were like any other little girl growing up in the countryside until she fell in love with cricket. Since then her passion for game is as strong as ever at a time when some young ‘County girls’ are getting pregnant and married and the young boys are turning to alcohol.
Mangru explained that it was the Scotiabank Kiddies Cricket programme which, like it has done for thousands of little children across the Caribbean, fueled her interest in the game.
“When I was going to school I was in grade four around 10 years old and I used to see the boys them playing cricket on the school ground and I just like fell in love with the game. A couple months after there was the Scotia-Bank Kiddies cricket and that’s when I really started to get interested in cricket,” the former Bygeval Secondary School student informed.
Her first entry to competitive cricket was in the softball format when, as an 11 year-old she captained the Mahaica Queens in the GT&T 10/10 competition and led them to the Super 16 round.
The East Coast Demerara teenager hails from a village that has produced West Indies players in Female, Male and Blind cricket. Mahaica is the home of Test players Colin Croft and Shiv Chanderpaul, former West Indies U-19 opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul, West Indies female player Indomattie Gordial-John, and West Indies Blind player Ganesh Singh.
Mangru has the opportunity of joining this group who came from that village and went on to play for the Regional side.
Like young Chanderpaul, Mangru has a sound academic foundation and has balanced education with sports, and is a ‘well rounded’ individual.
“I have 9 CXC subjects and I want to further my studies at any University of the West Indies (UWI) or at the University of Guyana. I want to study sports management,” she revealed.

Mandy at her school’s graduation ceremony.

Efforts are being made to get Mangru into the UWI Cave Hill in Barbados where female cricket is better structured than in Guyana where the Demerara players on the National side has to rely on softball tournaments to keep active.
In a Guyana team with Shamaine Campbell, Tremayne Smartt, Erva Giddings, Sabrina Munroe and June Olge, all of whom have represented the West Indies, Mangru is the youngest player and like a sponge, soaks up the experience and knowledge of playing with and against these players.
A problem for young talented teenagers like Mangru is that there is no U-19 female cricket played before the Guyana team is selected for Regional U-19 tournaments.
“There was no Demerara U-19 team when I started to play. There was only training sessions with a lot of girls and that was in 2013 when I made my Guyana U-19 debut. My parents are my number one supporters who have been with me through thick and thin when it comes to cricket,” said Mangru.
“I also give a big thank you to myself for never giving up and always working hard to do my best,” Mandy said with a laugh.
She has played eight times for Demerara and her player of the Match performance of 5-5 from 3.1 overs in 2015 when Demerara beat E’bo at the GDF ground remains her best bowling figures at the inter-county level, while her batting has improved tremendously.
Mangru was also high in praise for Coach Andrew Lovell, who helped her for the two years she was at Everest and Coach Clive Grimmond and Coach Andre Percival for their assistance later in her fledging career, but said she is no longer at Everest since there is no female hard ball cricket in Demerara now.
Only in Berbice females play hard ball cricket with the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTYSC) being the driving force in this regard. Berbice, the female Inter-County Champions are set to play in a male competition organised by the RHTYSC and Hilbert Foster.
The Corentyne Club, GCB’s club of the year, has been approached to have Mandy participate in Berbice cricket.
“My favorite male cricketers are South Africa’s AB DeVillers and India’s Captain Virat Kholi and for female it’s West Indies players Stafanie Taylor and Shamaine Campbelle,” said Mangru.
She also admires 27-year-old Indian player Harmanpreet Kaur, 24-year-old Meg Lanning, 27-year-old Elyse Villain and 24-year-old Alyssa Healy, all Australians. Off the field Mangru loves to listen to music and play video games, especially those on sports. She is also a good Table Tennis player and not surprisingly, an above average Pool player since her father is one of the best at Pools in Guyana and Coaches Mandy and her brother in that sport.
“My one wish would be to become an amazing cricketer for the West Indies female team and to hold some records, like becoming the leading run scorer for West Indies in all formats of the game and maybe someday Captain the West Indies team to both 50 and 20 overs World Cup titles…. that’s my wish,” Mandy said with dreamy look in her eyes.