Guyanese off to NY for Independence Cup glory

The annual New York Softball Cricket League (NYSCL) international softball tournament bowls off on Friday in New York with 22 teams, including five from Guyana. The three-day tournament will be played in two categories at various venues in New York from July 1 to 3.

The Legends Cup will be for players 45 years old and over, while the Independence Cup is for males of any age. Guyana Floodlights Softball Cricket Association (GFSCA) will be represented by two teams in the Legends Cup, defending champions Floodlights Masters and Floodlights Legend.

The other Guyanese teams heading to the Big Apple are last year’s Legends runner-up Regal Masters as well as Regal All Stars and Wolf Warriors All Stars.

New York Mercenaries are the defending champions in the Open or Independence Cup category, which will see 10 teams competing for supremacy this year.

Ricky Deonarain will lead defending champions Floodlights, while Ramo Malone will be his deputy. Lalta Gainda is the skipper for Floodlights Legends, with Lakhram Singh the deputy.

The preliminary matches will be played on Friday, July 1 and on the morning of Saturday, July 2. The semi-finals in both categories will be played on Saturday afternoon and both finals will be played on Sunday, July 3. The venues to be used are Seaview in Brooklyn, 150 Street Rockaway Blvd, Roy Wilkins Park and the Cage at Fuch Blvd and Barron Street in Queens.

The 10 teams that are registered for the Independence Cup are: New York Enforcers, NYSCL All-Star, New York Cricket Doctors, Shattaz All Stars, Regal All Stars, Queen’s All Stars, Wolf Warriors All Stars, New York Dream Team and Waves Enforcers.

While the 12 teams that are confirmed for the Legends Cup are: NYSCL Legends, Regal Masters, Guyana Floodlights, Guyana Floodlight Legends, Brooklyn/Queen’s Legends, Ontario Masters, OMSI Masters, Albion Masters, New York President’s XI and Seaview Masters.

The Guyanese teams are:

Wolf Warriors All Stars – Amrit Rai (Captain); Sarfraz Karim (Vice Captain); Vaickesh Dhaniram; Ricky Sargent; Mark Harold; Azad Azeez; Greg Singh; Wazeer Hussain; Lincoln Leander; Diyaram Ramnauth; Siddiq Kayoon; Alim Khan and Omesh Ganesh

FLOODLIGHTS – Ricky Deonarain (Captain); Ramo Malone (Vice Captain); Uniss Yusuf; Jagdish Persaud; Lloyd Rooplall; Wayne Jones; Clive Canterbury; Pooran Singh; Sydney Jackman Jr; Asif Ahmad; Ravi Lutchman; Joe Lutchman; Kash Lutchman; Goordial Mattai and Vejai Seonarine

FLOODLIGHT LEGENDS – Lalta Gainda (Captain); Lakhram Singh (Vice Captain); Jailall Deodass; Dharam Persaud; Surendra Nauth; Rahaman Khan; Ago Gopaul; Rajendra Persaud; Anil Beharry; Imtiaz Mohamed; Motielall Chumundat; Arjune Badal; Mohan Sukhu; Teekchand Madhu; Uniss Baksh and Roshan Kamrudeen.

Regal All Stars and Regal Masters are yet to name their teams, but have confirmed their participation.