Shillong, Jun 28: The Meghalaya Cricket Association is ready with coaches and training plans for the senior and age-group teams that will represent the state in the BCCI’s domestic season, which is expected to begin in October, Apex Council Member Mark Ingty (pictured) said yesterday.
The MCA has been going through a very public bad spell, with damaging accusations of sexual harassment and a funding freeze caused by a dispute between the President, James PK Sangma, and the Honorary Secretary Rayonald Kharkamni.
The other elected members of the Apex Council also seem to be on Kharkamni’s side and, collectively, they wrote to the BCCI earlier this month to bring the governing body’s attention to the state of affairs in the MCA, including how the impasse has affected preparations for the domestic season as well as local inter-district tournaments. This was also told to the BCCI in a separate letter signed by nine of the 12 district associations.
Yesterday, at a press conference with Sangma regarding the sexual harassment issue, Ingty assured that, in fact, the MCA is as ready today as it has been in past years at this point in the calendar.
“In the past they have started preparing teams even later and we will be starting preparations earlier this season,” he said, adding that the association is ready with its list of coaches and training plans.
Ingty is the most senior player in the state to have played for Meghalaya in BCCI competitions and he has been co-opted onto the Apex Council. The Shillong Cricket Association, in yet another letter to the BCCI, questioned whether he is eligible as he is also the Joint Secretary of the Cricket Association of West Khari Anglong and a member of the selection committee of the Assam senior cricket team. Ingty had played for Assam in the years before Meghalaya was given full BCCI affiliation.
Unlike the office bearers on the Apex Council, Ingty is obviously in Sangma’s camp. The President also has the support of the cricket advisory committee, which features the next three senior-most ex-Meghalaya players – Jason J Lamare, Wanlambok Nongkhlaw and Aditya Singhania.
Sangma said that these four will be key to improve Meghalaya’s standing in the domestic cricket scene. He said that Meghalaya has been in tremendous decline over the last few years – from defeating Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy (which is misleading) to being relegated back to the plate group. (In actual fact, Meghalaya has never defeated Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy but did do so once in the T20 tournament called the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which was a significant achievement in itself, though not quite on the same level as the first-class Ranji Trophy.)
Meanwhile, to try and prevent sexual harassment of women players, the MCA will aim to appoint more female coaches and other support staff for its teams from the upcoming 2026-27 season, Ingty informed.
Ingty played his last match for Meghalaya in January 2020. He has played 22 first-class matches (including for Assam), 13 one day List A matches and 4 T20 games. He took 42 Ranji wickets including one 5-wicket haul and (his greatest claim to fame) the scalp of Sourav Ganguly no less in a one day game for Assam. His highest score with the bat actually came in a T20 match against Bengal when he made 39 not out in November 2019 for Meghalaya.
Ingty and Lamare are cousins and the latter also represented Assam as well as Meghalaya. He played 11 first-class, 14 List A and 5 T20s. His last match was in March 2019. Although renowned and admired, his stats are a little on the low side, with just 236 Ranji runs and 214 in List A and averages of below 20 in both. He made one fifty in each format.
Singhania’s last match for Meghalaya was in March 2021. He played 13 FC, 12 List A and 16 T20s. The left-arm orthodox spinner took two five-wicket hauls in first-class cricket and even bagged 10 wickets in a match against Mizoram in 2020. He hit a high score of 60 not out against Mizoram in 2018.
Wanlambok played 12 FC, 13 List A and 5 T20s. His last game was in January 2025. Again, while regarded highly locally, his state stats were underwhelming – 251 Ranji runs averaging under 12 and 115 List A runs averaging under 10. He did manage one half-century in each format, however – 70 in the Ranji Trophy against Arunachal Pradesh in 2020 and an impressive 59 against Delhi in 2022 in the one day format.
(File photo)
