A BRILLIANT innings of 121 off just 42 balls from Clinton Pestano led the Rose Hall Town Gizmos & Gadgets team to an easy victory over Ankerville in the final of the 2015 Port Mourant Softball Cup. Playing in front of a large crowd at the Port Mourant Cricket ground on Sunday, Pestano struck six massive sixes and nine fours as he and Berbice senior player Jason Sinclair added 151 for the second wicket to propel the side to an imposing 184 for 2 off their allotted 20 overs.
Pestano’s century was the first in the five-year history of the tournament.
Winning the toss and batting first, Rose Hall Town Gizmos & Gadgets lost opener Oliver Giddings for 8 at 23 for 1 before Sinclair and Pestano, who struggled earlier to get the ball away, got settled in.
Pestano cut loose as he struck a hapless Wahied Edwards for 27 runs in the 10th over. After Pestano was dismissed in the 19th over, Sinclair 45 not out and Eon Hooper 6 not out ensured Rose Hall Town Gizmos & Gadgets ended strongly.
Bowling for Ankerville D. Singh and G. Dhanisar claimed one wicket each.
Needing to score 185 runs off 20 overs to win their first-ever Port Mourant Cup, Ankerville never looked like reaching the target as they managed only 131 all out from 17.4 overs.
Motie 27, David Latchaya 20 and Adrian Sukhwa 21 batted well but Port Mourant, spearheaded by S. Garnett’s 2 for 17, H. Jaipaul 2 for 13 and Yogindra Harrinarine 3 for 25, were brilliant in the field.
At the semifinals on Saturday the RHT Gizmos & Gadgets relied on the strength of a brilliant 61 not out from Pestano again, as they defeated Albion by 5 wickets while Ankerville upset Port Mourant by 80 runs.
The tournament started Friday with eight teams – Rose Hall Town, City Star, Ankerville, Tain, Belvedere, Port Mourant, Albion and Block 4.
At the presentation ceremony, organiser Roy Ramgoolam of New York expressed gratitude to the eight teams for their high level of discipline and congratulated the Rose Hall Town Gizmos & Gadgets for winning the 2015 Championship after being the losing finalists last year.
Rose Hall Town received $400 000, the Championship trophy and medals for each player while Ankerville received $200 000, runners-up trophy and medals.
Port Mourant Cricket Club carried home $100 000 for 3rd place while Pestano received trophies and a combined $80 000 for being named Man-of-the-Final and Best Overall Batsman of the tournament (270 runs).
John Percival of Rose Hall Town Gizmos & Gadgets, Yogindra Harrinarine of Port Mourant Cricket Club and Gudakesh Motie of Albion shared the $40 000 prize for being named Best Bowlers with 13 wickets each.