… Rockaway Auto Sales X1 A, Karibee Boyz, Falcon Girls & All Star Conquerors
ON another riveting day of action, blessed with excellent weather and a steady Atlantic breeze across the Everest Cricket Club ground, fans were treated to some fantastic cricket and when the dust settled, Rockaway Auto Sales X1 ‘A’, Karibee Boyz, Falcon Girls and All Star Conquerors all booked their respective places in the quarter-finals of the 3rd GT&T 10/10 nationwide softball cricket competition.
From the beginning of the tournament which is being run by the Guyana Softball League on a knock-out format, teams have had to be on the ball and yesterday was no different as Rockaway Auto Sales X1 ‘A’ rocked their way to a commanding 8-wicket win over D’Edward Sports Club in the day’s feature game.
Falcon Girls made light work of Speed Boat whom they defeated by 25 runs in the main supporting game. Karibee Boyz also displayed excellent form in disposing of Falcon by 8 wickets while the opening game of the day saw All Star Conquerors live up to their name when they took care of business against Jungle Strikers by 6 wickets. In the feature game, Rockaway won the toss and invited D’Edward Sports Club to bat first. Excellent bowling, backed up by efficient fielding, resulted in the Essequibo side being bowled out for 62. Kevin Jawahir was the top scorer with 21; Tony Ramanand made 19 and Jaipaul Heeralall 13. The star of the bowling for Rockaway was Kumar Bishundial who took the first hat-trick of the Super-16 round, conceding 10 runs.
He was well supported by Mahendra Ramlakhan (2-8) as the D’Edward batsmen could not handle the pair. Three of their batsmen went by the run-out route.
Needing 63 to win, Rockaway went in pursuit of the target in businesslike fashion with their two main strike bowlers coming back with the bat to lead them home. Ramlakhan was unbeaten on 31 when victory was achieved at 64-2 off 7 overs with Bishundial contributing 21.
D’Edward lost their first 3 wickets before the end of the second over and never recovered thereafter. Both teams lost their first wicket off the first ball of their respective innings. The main supporting encounter, a female clash between Speed Boat of West Bank Demerara and Falcon Girls of Leguan, saw the former win the toss and elect to field. Falcon Girls accepted the offer and proceeded to smash 106-4 off their 10 overs. Estell Lewis led with 31 (5×4), Lateka Blackette scored 16, Nikita Trotz 15 and Aliza Azad 10. When Speed Boat batted, they encountered rough waters which resulted in their engines backing down as they ended on 81-4. Natasha Skeete tried her utmost to take the attack to the bowlers but eventually fell for 32 (2×4), Joan Ann King contributed 10 as they lost by 25 runs  Falcon Girls clearly have mastered the art of bowling in this 10/10 version of the game for which Speed Boat have clearly not found an answer.
In another exceptional display of tight bowling and proficient fielding, Karibee Boyz, who hail from the Ancient County of Berbice, lost the toss to Leguan’s Falcon who decided that batting first would have done the trick for them but their choice ended up backfiring.
When their 10 overs expired, they were well short of a competitive total, ending on 69-6 with Zaman Mustapha (25) the only batsman to offer any resistance to the stifling bowling of the Karibee Boyz, one of the teams fancying their chances of going all the way to the grand final and winning the championship.
With a powerful batting line-up and the solid opening pair of former Guyana T20 batsman Imran Khan who made his name in the Stanford 20/20 competition and Sharmindra Hardyal, Karibee Boyz flayed the Falcon bowling attack to reach 70-2 in just 5.5 overs.
Khan smashed 36 (5×4 1×6) with Hardyal batting through the innings to end on 19. Falcon paid dearly for dropping Khan in the first over.
All Star Conquerors brushed aside Jungle Strikers by 6 wickets in the day’s opening encounter. Batting first, Jungle Strikers failed to strike at full throttle and were limited to 78-6 off their 10 overs – Donica Lyle hitting 22, Shenella Adams 14 and Natasha Dos Santos 11.
In reply, All Star Conquerors eased to 79-4 off 7.3 overs; Akilah Castello led with 23, Annazette Carew 18 and Nadeena Dasrella 17.
The final four quarterfinalists will be decided today when defending champions Wolf Warriors face Affiance; Speed Boat Sports Club play Platinum Jaguars Senior in the two male games while in the female competition, Wiruni Conquerors play Rising Stars X1 and Mora United oppose Mike’s Wellwoman.
Play starts at 10:00hrs at the Everest Cricket Club Ground, Camp Road.