President of the Guyana Floodlights Softball Cricket Association (GFSCA) Ramchand Ragbeer has expressed strong optimism that both the GFSCA ‘A’ team and the GFSCA Legends will exceed expectations at the 2017 Florida Cup tournament which bowls off Friday.
Ragbeer was speaking exclusively with Guyana Times Sport on Sunday at the Malteenoes Sports Club ground Thomas Land where a large number of their players engaged in a final warm-up before jetting off to North America.
In the organized warm up matches, Wellman XI emerged victorious beating Ariel XI by six runs in a thrilling encounter while Savage XI overwhelmed Arno XI by 15 runs for the third-place trophy.
According to the GFSCA boss, the teams are very much upbeat of dominating proceedings from the commencement and he is backing the ‘A’ side to retain the championship in the Masters Division as well.
Wellman team strikes a pose just after winning the final against Ariel XI
He further stated that it was vitally important that some of the players were able to engage in practice matches and it certainly builds their confidence immensely to feature at the Mini Softball World Cup event.
“I [am] very confident both the A and B (Legends) teams will do well in Florida from Friday; the guys have been preparing for the tournament over the past weeks and with these organized matches by the association today (Sunday) was a great opportunity for them to get themselves ready,” Ramchand declared.
He mentioned that the A side is high in confidence alluding to the fact they were champion at their own Guyana Cup 6 last year and also the Florida Cup in 2016.
Meanwhile, Wellman XI racked up a challenging 151-9 from the allotment of 20-overs after they were inserted by Ariel XI, who replied with 145 all out off 19.5 overs.
Skipper Wayne Jones and Nandram Samlall made 30 runs each while Eon Lovell chipped in with a steady 18. Erick Jeffrey snared two wickets for 23 runs from his allotted four overs.
In Ariel XI’s chase, Afeez Samad struck a cameo 25 which counted three sixes and a four and 22 unbeaten from Talesh Ramotar as Grey De-Franco claimed three wickets for 17 runs from four overs and Samall picked two for 15 off three overs to complemented a fine all-round and man-of-the-match performance.
In the third-place play-off match, Savage XI defeated Arno XI by 11 runs. Savage XI scored a sufficient 145-2 from the allotted 15-overs while Arno XI left hanging at 131-8 when the overs expired.
Former senior Berbice Inter-county batsman Anil Beharry led the way with an aggressive 61 laced with five sixes and three fours. He received solid support from skipper Troy Ramsaywack, who hit 53 also with five sixes and two fours.
In Arno XI’s response, the veteran Dhanny Mohanram scored a combative 47 while 31 from Amarnauth Boodhoo.
Ram Malone grabbed three wickets for 20 runs from three overs and Ramsaywack returned to collect two wickets conceding 17 runs off his three overs.
At a simple presentation ceremony just after the final game, trophies were handed out to the winning, runners-up and third-place sides, compliments of Trophy Stall of Bourda Market while Samlall took home a hamper, thanks to Mike’s Pharmacy.
