TORONTO, Canada – As happened in the last three years, there wasn’t much to separate the two ‘giants’ of Masters softball in the fourth.The winners however remained the same as Our Own Sports Club held their nerves to clinch a nail-biting one-run cliffhanger victory over archrivals Guyana Sports Club (GSC) last Sunday at the

Littles ground, Scarborough here.
The win ensured a fourth consecutive for Our Own who had suffered their first defeat at the hands of the same opponents a few weeks back, in the preliminary rounds, following a string of 53 consecutive victories over the last three years.
Reliance Lions were crowned B Division winners after crushing Heritage by 44 runs.
Playing in the final of Division A of the Ontario Masters Softball Cricket Clubs tournament, and before a bumper Sunday afternoon crowd, the two teams were locked in a fierce battle with the eventual winners decided with the final delivery of GSC innings.

Needing to get 10 off the final over and with six wickets still intact, the odds were heavily stocked on GSC to dethrone the defending champions but some strange batting tactics let them down badly.
Former national player Shiv Seeram, who was entrusted to bowl the last over after having not called on prior to that, justified skipper Mahendranuth ‘Bobby’ Parasnauth’s faith in him as GSC were left high and dry on 133 for four in pursuit of 135 for victory.
Earlier, Our Own were indebted to a superb fourth-wicket partnership of 116 between Most Valuable Player Troy Gobin and Jaimini Singh after they were rocked back at 18 for three, losing the wickets of Desmond Chumney, Sunil Dhaniram and Orin O’Neil in quick succession.
Gobin, who has a habit of winning MVP awards, his latest being in the Toronto Cup 1, again used his vast experience to good effect and along with opener Singh, kept the GSC attack at bay.
When he was run-out off the final delivery of the 20th over, the slimly- built right-hander had counted three sixes and two fours in his brilliant 62 while Singh was unbeaten on 32 with a solitary six.
In reply, GSC got off to a fine start with Rovendra Madholall (39) and Ian ‘Russian’ Baldeo adding 69 for the first wicket before the former departed after hitting two sixes and four fours. Despite

losing some momentum after, GSC were still within grasp of claiming the title.
However, with the departure of Baldeo for a well-compiled 31, the other batsmen made a hash of the situation and were left to rue their chances at the end. Madholall was awarded MVP for the losers.
In the B Division final, Rakesh Dyal was unstoppable with both bat and ball, smashing a brilliant 108 and returning to claim four for 18 as Reliance Lions made light work of Heritage.
MVP Dyal clobbered 12 sixes and three fours as Reliance Lions reached a challenging 178 for four in their allotted 20 overs. He received solid support from Amernauth Sukhoo (39). Harry Rajkumar, who was voted MVP for Heritage, ended with two for 17.
Heritage were 134 for nine at the end of their 20 overs. Robert Lall was also among the wickets with two for 16.
At the presentation ceremony, OMSCC president Jai Singh described the season as historic and memorable, referring to the league’s staging of the inaugural Toronto Cup which also saw Our Own emerging winners in the Masters category with victory over the Guyana Floodlights Softball Cricket Association (GFSCA).
Meanwhile, the OMSCC annual presentation, dinner and dance is set for Saturday, November 7 next.

(By Frederick Halley)