Home Sports Prime Minister’s Softball Cup tournament: Guyana Knight Riders Ariel All-Stars banking...
Guyana Knight Riders Ariel All-Stars team are banking on their experienced players to make an impression in the Open Category of this year’s Prime Minister’s Softball Cup tournament.
The three-day softball extravaganza is scheduled to be played from November 11th to 13th, and three male categories and a female category would feature. In the male category, there will be the Legends (Over-50), Masters (Over-40) and Open (all ages, with round-arm bowling only). Four female teams are set to participate.
The winning team for each male category would pocket a staggering $600,000, with other top prizes at stake, while the ladies’ victorious side will take home $200,000, with more prizes available as well. Co-manager of Guyana Knight Riders Ariel All-Stars, Ariel Persaud, is very optimistic that his team would retain the trophy.
Last year, this side were known only as Ariel All-Stars, but they have added Guyana Knight Riders on this occasion. According to Persaud, the team are also loaded with some veteran softball players who have done consistently well over the years, and the prize at stake would motivate them to play competitive and exciting cricket.
Persaud disclosed that team members are preparing very assiduously for this tournament, because they fully anticipate the unrelenting competition that would obtain in the Open Category. Top-class batsman Brian Mangar is again at the helm for this year’s participation. He led the team to glory in the last tournament, and is brimming with confidence that they would again lift the trophy.
Persaud happily informed that Zamal Khan, a pugnacious softball batsman, is included in their lineup, and is an asset in any team. Khan, who represented Guyana at the youth level, has been playing softball cricket over the past decade in his adopting country the USA.
Another very reputable player is Keon Sinclair, whose brother Kevin recently played for Guyana Amazon Warriors at the Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament.
“We have got some excellent softball players in our team. We are prepared and ready to go,” Persaud mentioned.
He has also described Eon Hooper and David Williams as two quality players who are anxious to get on the field.
More than 25 teams are expected to feature in all the male categories of this tournament, and they are coming from New York, Florida, Canada and across Guyana.