Defending champs easily retain title for fourth successive year

Arjune named man-of-the-match

THANKS to a man-of-the-match performance from Chandrashaker Arjune, defending champions City Stars defeated Rose Hall Town Gizmos and Gadgets (RHTGG) by eight wickets to easily retain for the fourth successive year the Roy Ramgoolam and family’s fourth annual Port Mourant Softball Cup T20 title.

Winning the toss and opting to field first, City Stars, who trumped the home team Port Mourant Cricket Club by six wickets in their semifinals, restricted RHTGG to 38 for 6, before they ended on 108 all out, thanks to John Percival’s 38, backed by 18 from Michael Hicks and 15 from Michael’s brother Delbert.

Arjune took 3 for 17 and Mahendra Baldeo, who shared the Best Bowler award with his skipper Krishnanand Balgobin, 2 for 23, for City Stars who coasted to 109 for 2 in reply, with Arjune hitting an unbeaten 38, having with him Pooran Debidyal who was on 27 when victory was achieved.

A massive crowd saw City Stars win the toss and ask RHTGG to take first strike and when Khemraj Mahadeo was bowled for 3, followed by the wickets of Eon Hooper (4), Jason Sinclair (1), and Clinton Pestano (0), pandemonium broke out among the City Stars supporters, while RHTGG batsmen panicked as their team slipped to 24 for 4.

Delbert Hicks and Troy Mathieson (8) sought to repair with their 14-run partnership, but both perished within two balls, thanks to Arjune, enabling Percival and Delbert’s younger brother Michael, to repair that damage with some deft running between the wickets.

However, when Michael Hicks was dismissed via run out, Simeon Lawson (10) joined Percival and pushed the score over the 100run mark, before Lawson was sent back, followed by Shawn Pereira (2) and Percival, who was the last batsman dismissed.

In their reply, City Stars saw Michael Ramalho (13) and David Looknauth (23) add 24 for the first wicket, with the former hitting the first ball of his team’s innings from Sinclair, audaciously through cover point for 4.

When Ramalho was sent back, bowled by Mahadeo, Arjune joined Looknauth and pushed the score to 54, before Looknauth, who was six runs away from claiming the Best Batsman award, which later went to David Latchana of Block 4, was caught.

It was the final hurrah for RHTGG, as Arjune in partnership with Debidyal carried City Stars to 109 for 2 off 16.5 overs, earning them the $320 000 first place prize, trophy and 16 medallions, while RHTGG took home $160 000, a trophy and 16 medallions for their second-place finish.

In the third place playoff, PMCC defeated Tain who lost their semifinal fixture to RHTGG, by seven wickets, to take home $80 000 and a trophy.

Batting first, Tain were limited to 91 for 7 from their 15 overs, with L. Veerasammy topscoring with 19 (2×4), while Navindra made 16 (2×4) and S. Pooran 11.

National leg-spinner Amir Khan took 3 for 17 and Mahendra Ramdhial 2 for 9 for PMCC, who in reply scored 92 for 3 from 12 overs, thanks to an unbeaten 36 (2×6, 1×4) from Ramdhial and 13 each from Khan and Troy Gonsalves.

In the first semifinal, PMCC, asked to bat first by City Stars, were bowled out for 90 off 14.1 overs, despite Khan’s top score of 46 (4×6, 2×4) and 14 from Manoj Looknauth, which included one six and a four, as Balgobin took 4 for 16 and Baldeo and Rajendra Sookdeo two wickets each for 5 and 11 runs respectively.

David Looknauth then struck two fours and one six in his topscore of 26, which along with 21 from Ramalho and 15 from Arjune, powered City Stars to 92 for 4 from 10.4 overs and a place in the final where they later met and defeated RHTGG, who blew past Tain by 10 wickets in the other semifinal.

Batting first, Tain were bowled out for 81 in 15.3 overs, with Anil Chattergoon 31 (2×4) offering resistance to Hooper (3 for 12), Sinclair (2 for 12) and Mahadeo (2 for 21), while Mahadeo had three sixes and two fours in his unbeaten 44 backed by Hooper’s 24 (2×6, 1×4) as RHTGG reached 82 without loss off 6.4 overs.

In an invited comment with Chronicle Sport, Ramgoolam said he felt pleased giving back to the community-based club, since it was there he would have gone in the afternoons after school and fielded balls for the batsmen, before becoming a member.

He vowed to come back next year as he has been doing for the past four years, and continue with the programme, in which he is looking to make it bigger and better, since, apart from the donation of the cricket prizes, he also made a financial donation along with bat rubbers, six boxes of cricket balls and other miscellaneous items to PMCC.

In a show of appreciation, both Ramgoolam and Bhola Ramsundar were the beneficiaries of engraved plaques from PMTCC, whose president Vicram Seubarran said thanks to Ramgoolam for his tangible and timely support to the club.

(By Calvin Roberts)