TORONTO, Canada – After a season to savour, which saw him being awarded the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in both the inaugural Toronto Cup Masters category and the First Division finals, former Guyana Under-19 player Troy Gobin was fittingly voted the Ontario Masters Softball Clubs (OMSCC) First Division Player of the Year when the association held its 15th annual presentation, dinner and dance here recently.Dubbed an evening of fun and celebration, the glittering ceremony, held at the exquisite Queen’s Banquet Hall, Scarborough, saw the introduction of Player of the Year awards for the first time with the other recipients being Jeetendra Harilall of Reliance Lions in Division Two and Colin Mohamid of Dirty Dozen in the Over-50 category.
Gobin, who was unavoidably absent due to Guyana Softball Cup 5 commitments in Guyana, played decisive roles in Our Own Sports Club victory over the Guyana Floodlights Softball Cricket Association (GFSCA) in the Toronto Cup final, played over the Labour Day weekend here and was also pivotal in his team’s nail-biting one-run win over Guyana Sports Club (GSC) in the First Division Championship battle.

Harilall had a brilliant all-round season for Second Division title-holders Reliance Lions, totalling 252 runs for an average of 42,00 and was also in the wicket columns, claiming 11 scalps at 3.41 runs each while the versatile Mohamid stood out with both bat and ball, scoring 226 runs at 56.50 runs per innings and grabbing 10 wickets at 3.75 runs apiece.
Apart from Gobin, the other MVPs were Rakesh Dyal for his masterful all-round performance for Reliance Lions in the Second Division final where he blasted 108 and also took four wickets, OMSCC president Jai Singh for his match-winning half-century in the Over-50 final and Azeez Baksh for ensuring Essequibo’s fourth consecutive success in the Inter-county tournament.
GSC’s Richard Driffield copped awards for scoring the most runs (361) as well as achieving the best average (72.2) in the First Division while Amarnauth Sukhoo of Reliance Lions did the same in the Second Division, aggregating 471 with an average of 78.5.
In the bowling department, the evergreen Mahendranauth ‘Bobby’ Parasnauth took top honours with 13 wickets and for the third year running captured the Most Economical Bowler prize with an average of 2.04 runs per wicket.
Rakesh Dyal (Reliance Lions) and Sasenarine Panday (Seatown) tied for the most wickets (12) in the Second Division while Gavin Glasgow (Reliance Lions) was the most economical bowler (3.41 runs per wicket).
Mark Luke of KC Stalwarts was the main run-getter (239) in the Over-50 category while Mohamid’s 10 wickets topped the division and Naseer Baksh (Our Own) had the best average (2.25 runs per wicket).
The season also saw Our Own Sports Club retaining top honours in Division One for the fourth successive year with Reliance Lions emerging tops in the Second Division and Caribbean Sensation winning the Over-50 category after doing the same the previous season.
In brief remarks, OMSCC president Jai Singh described 2015 as a fantastic year for masters cricket, taking into consideration the staging of Toronto Cup 1. “As you can imagine, Toronto Cup 1 requested a concerted effort and I would be remiss if I did not recognise the committee members, sponsors and volunteers. To all of you, we owe a depth of gratitude and are equally grateful for your generous contributions.”
According to Singh, the OMSCC intends to build upon the successes of 2015 and is aware that questions will be asked about the introduction of the white ball during the regular season or whether the organisation will host Toronto Cup 2 in 2016. He alluded to the fact that the feedback from the foreign teams was that Toronto Cup 1 “was the best in all their tours and they are eager to come back to Toronto in 2016.
All decisions pertaining to whether the white ball will be introduced on the staging of Toronto Cup 2 have been reserved for the OMSCC annual general meeting early in the new year.
The Norman Sue Spirit Award, given annually to a worthy individual who has played a big role both on and off the field was presented to founding-member Dharam Lall by the late businessman’s daughter Kim Sue. The citation read: “Your selflessness and charity is an inspiration to all.”

By Frederick Halley