A muscular 40-ball 119 from Azad Azeez propelled West-Side All Stars to a 59-run win over Legends XI in the Royston Ramsarran Welcome Home feature softball match at Thirst Park on Thursday night. Azeez hit 13 massive sixes and nine fours in an entertaining knock that saw the West-Side All-Stars putting up a respectable 219 all out from 17.3 overs under lights, before returning to restrict the star-studded Legends side to 160 for 5 from their 20 overs.
The victorious West-Side All-Stars with Royston “The Don” Ramsarran after the game
The left-handed Azeez opened the batting alongside Captain Ryan Boodhoo, who opted to bat in cool conditions. And although the more experienced Legends side picked up wickets at regular intervals, they were unable to slow down Azeez; and they paid the price for bowling too short and down the leg side.
In support of Azeez, Jermaine Maxwell hit two sixes in a brisk innings of 19 runs from 13 balls to take the score past the 200-run mark after the top and middle orders were kept quiet, except for Azeez.
Seasoned campaigner Laurie Singh led the Legends’ bowling with superb figures of 4-0-39-4, while Samuel Kingston snapped up 2 for 30 from three overs.
In the run chase, the Legends lost Mohamed Rafeek early, but opener Unis Yusuf and Patrick Khan consolidated and took the score to 73 in the eighth over. Khan went for 14, while Yusuf went on to hit the top score of 48 retired. In all, the right-handed batsman Yusuf faced 37 balls and accounted for four fours and two sixes.
However, the Legends were stifled in the middle overs due to good bowling and fielding from their youthful opponents, which saw the required run-rate climbing steadily. Kingston then came and gave the innings a late push with a cameo of 17 runs from five balls (1×4; 2×6) but it turned out to be not enough to get his team over the ropes. There were also 27 extras, including 18 wides.
Ayume Mohamed was the pick of the West-Side All -Stars bowlers with 2 for 19 from four overs. He was supported by Maxwell with 1 for 18 from three overs.
The game was played in good spirits, and a moment of silence was observed from the late Amreith “Rocky” Rai, who had been an excellent softball player and ambassador of the game before he died in 2017. The former Organizing Secretary of the Guyana Softball Cricket League, Royston Ramsarran, in whose honour the game was played, thanked the players and spectators for coming out, and urged everyone to keep the game of softball cricket alive. In his playing days, Ramsarran, who now resides in New York USA, hit nine centuries in softball cricket, including three in succession. He is now an active umpire in the ‘Big Apple.’
