Written by Calvin Roberts
THANKS to a pugnacious ton from national Under-19 vice–captain Ricardo Adams, Regal XI demolished Super Eagle by 155 runs in their quarterfinal matchup at the Everest Cricket Club ground yesterday, thus booking a place in the semifinals of the Georgetown Softball Cricket League/Digimax Open tournament.Also booking a place in the final four were recently crowned Guyana Floodlights Softball Cricket Association champions Trophy Stall, the team they defeated to win that title Wolf Warriors and Farm XI, but it was Adams who stole the show for yesterday’s action.
Batting first after they won the toss, Regal piled up a mammoth 207 for 3 from their 12 overs, with Adams hitting 18 sixes-six of which came in one over- during his 119, while Safraz Esau offered support with his 47.
In reply, Super Eagle folded for 52 from 11 overs, with only Rafman Ally reaching double figures with his 22 against the bowling of Esau who took 2 for 7 for Regal, who will now meet Farm XI in their semifinal encounter, after that team gained a walk over from Better Hope.
In the other two matches, Wolf Warriors defeated Princess with the scores for that contest being unavailable, while Trophy Stall eased past Challengers by eight wickets, scoring 93 for 2 with Fazal Rafiek 34 and Surujpaul Deosarran 32, in reply to Challengers’ 91 for which Ravi Ramnauth made 19 against the bowling of Rafeek who took 3 for 16.
In the Over-35 category, Industry Super Kings batted first against Success and scored 125 for 8 from their 20 overs, with Ishwar Persaud 44 and Danny Gangadin 38 leading their batting, even as Dharmendra Mohabir took 4 for 20 and Rajesh Baljeet and Shazim Mohammed 2 wickets each for 18 and 25 runs respectively.
In reply, Success scored 127 for 4 from 19.2 overs, thanks to Randy Ketwaroo’s unbeaten 67 and 15 from Mohabir, while R. Singh and J. Persaud took two wickets each for Industry Super Kings.
Regal Masters then faced up with Super Star and asked to bat first, Regal Masters scored 207 for 9, with Asif Ally 68, Saheed Mohammed 44 and Samuel Kingston 38 leading their batting charge, while Super Star were bowled out for 120 with Herman Persaud making 25, as Ally and Raymond Harper took 3 wickets each for 18 and 25 runs respectively.
Ogle faced off with Park Rangers in another quarterfinal fixture and asked their East Bank Demerara opponents to bat first, for which they were limited to 176 for 5 from their 20 overs.
Ricardo Persaud led Park Rangers’ batting with 68 and got support from Ejaz Mohammed who made 41 against the bowling of S. Mohammed who took 3 for 26 for Ogle, who in reply scored 178 for 6 from 19.4 overs.
Kishore Mohabir topscored with 57 and Wasim Baksh contributed 25 for the victors, as Boodram took 2 for 38 and Tony Singh 2 for 53 for the losing Park Rangers line up, while Savage defeated Frontline in the other quarterfinal fixture, for which the scores were unavailable.
The semi-finals will be contested on November 30 at the Softball Ground on Carifesta Avenue, with Regal playing Ogle and Savage taking on Success in the Master’s Category, while in the Open Category, Regal will oppose Farm XI and Wolf Warriors face Trophy Stall, with the finals being played the following day at the same venue.