The curtains came down on the Wolf Challenge Cup with Regal teams reigning supreme after winning the Masters and Open Categories at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground in Queenstown Georgetown on Sunday.
Lennox “The Assassin” Marks was named Most Valuable Player of the Male Open CategoryLatoya Smith played a captain’s knock to see her team throughDinesh Vivekanand was bowled by Shaheed Mohamed looking for quick runs
In the other category, Captain Latoya Smith led Mike’s Wellwoman to the female championship after a nail biting 11-run victory over rivals Trophy Stall Angels. Wellwoman who beat 4R Lioness by eight wickets in the semi-final to book their spot in the final were sent in by Trophy Stall Angels. Latoya Smith saw wickets tumbling all around her but found a capable partner in Sherika Campbell who scored a responsible 14 from 21 balls in a 56-run partnership for the sixth wicket. The pair got together at 55/5 after Sheneta Grimmond was dismissed for 30 from 17 balls with four boundaries. Nicola Leacock (2-13), Junelle Nero (1-18), Alicia Allen (1-21) and Anisa Persaud (1-27) picked up wickets at regular intervals to keep the runs flow in check.
However, Smith carried her bat and raised her half century in the final over to end on 51 not out from 38 balls. In all she hit two fours and a six. The partnership with Campbell which turned out to be the match winning partnership knocked the wind out of the sails of trophy Stall Angels who were bowled out for 100 off the last ball of their 15 overs to fall 11 runs short and give the Wellwoman side a well-deserved victory.
Trophy Stall Angels who booked their final spot with a seven wicket victory over the Blue Divas were off to a confident start when Odassa O’Neil with 21 from 24 balls (1×4) and Akela Castello who scored 19 (17 balls; 1 x4) put on 45 for the opening wicket. Since their separation, it was a steady procession to and from the pavilion with Zola Telford 3-15 (3 overs) and Haseena ‘Speedy’ Mohamed 2-23 (3 overs) breaking the back of the Angels to stifle the run chase. Extras contributed a healthy 23 but was not enough to stop Wellwoman from lifting another female crown.
Zola Telford was later named Most Valuable Player of the female tournament. In the lead up to the final, the all-rounder scored 182 runs and took 12 wickets. She had a highest score of 89 against the Trophy Stall Angels, 72 against Blue Divas and took 4-12 against Enterprise Divas.
In the first final of the day, Regal Masters beat Mike’s Wellman by six wickets in front of a good Sunday crowd at DCC. Regal won the toss and limited Wellman to 132/10 from their 20 overs. Regal bowlers never allowed the batting to get ahead with David Harper leading the way with impressive figures of 4-0-18-3. Saheed Mohamed, then bowled a hostile spell claiming 2 for 31 but it was Man of the Match Raymond Harper who cleaned up the tail with two wickets for 10 runs from two overs. For the tournament’s dark horses Wellman, Latchman Kallicharran who came in at number 6 and batted through to get the top score of 27 not out while opener Greg DeFranca got 25 (22 balls; 1×6; 3×4) and Nandram Samlall made a run a ball 21.
Set 133 to win, Regal Masters got to 136/5 from 18.2 overs after a cautious start. Khemchand Dindayal 2-20 (3 overs) and Motielall Chumandatt 2-28 (4 overs) tried their best to stop Regal from claiming another title but Raymond Harper with the top score of 32 (22 balls; 4×4; 1×6) played a cameo to put the run chase back on track. Mahendra Arjune 25 not out (13 balls; 2×4; 1×6), Mahesh Chunilall 21 (43 balls) and Eric Thomas 20 all got among the runs in a good display in brilliant sunshine.
Captain of Superior Woods, Mohamed ‘Stiffy’ Rafeek was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament in the Master’s category for scoring 309 runs including 106 against Savage Masters and 101 against Floodlights.
In the day’s final championship match Regal All-Stars had a walk in the park against Speed Boat XI. Regal who completed the double in the Guyana Softball Cup 2015 were looking for the double again and got it when they defeated the West Bank Demerara side by 35 runs in a one-sided contest. Speed Boat’s captain Greg Singh won the toss and invited the Campbellville based team to bat and after 20 overs the score was 205/6. Patrick Rooplall got the innings off to a flying start hitting six maximums and a four in 55 while Sarfraz Easu gave the innings some life with a quick fire 26 (1×6; 2×4) while captain Fazal Rafeek made a patient 25 (2×4) but it was 61 extras that made the game go at a snail’s pace. 50 of those were wides most of which were sent down by Greg Singh (4-0-48-0) and Shazim Hussein (4-0-72-1). Kishore Smith (2-19) and Wazeer Hussain (2-16) bowled very well but didn’t get the support needed.
Most Valuable Player of the Open category, Lennox ‘The Assassin’ Marks then began the run chase in a hurry but lacked the support and was stopped in his tracks from performing a one man show. With more than 10 runs per over required to win, Speed Boat were off to a rush and were always ahead of the rate with Marks and Shazim Hussein (20) on the go. Opening bowler, Tyrone Sanasie (1-41) was dispatched to all parts of the field but with the introduction of Pritvnath Motielall and Delroy Perreira the wickets began to tumble which put the brakes on the run-scoring. Beepaul Bandoo had a late push with 27 not out with a maximum and two fours but it was not enough as Speed Boat were bowled out for 170 with one ball to go in the innings. Man of the Match, Motielall had remarkable figures of 4-0-23-4while Perreira was wicketless from four economical overs that cost 20 overs.
The tournament which started in March 2016 was organized by the Guyana Floodlights Softball Cricket Association (GFSCA) and proudly sponsored by Wolf’s Furniture Store at Leonora Public Road. Representatives of the organisers and sponsor were on hand to assist with the presentation in the closing ceremony. Proprietor of Wolf Furniture Store, Imran Husain who spoke briefly said the tournament was held in memory of s father, Emam Husain who died in 1995. Husain thanked GFSCA and especially Organising Secretary, Wayne Jones for their efforts while congratulating the teams for participating.
