TORONTO, Canada – The Guyana Floodlights Softball Cricket Association (GFSCA), who were seeking to become the first masters team to win a major international tournament in all of the traditional playing venues, will have to wait even longer for that elusive title on Canadian soil.

The Rickey Deonarine-led Guyana outfit, which entered yesterday’s semi-finals of the Ontario Masters Softball Cricket Clubs (OMSCC) Toronto Cup II, which ended its penultimate day at the Ashtonbee ground here, bowed out by eight runs to the Ontario Masters Softball International (OMSI) in a closely-fought entertaining encounter.
Set a challenging 165 for victory, after OMSI had reached 164 for five, thanks to a brilliant 71 from former Guyana and Canadian player Sunil Dhaniram, GFSCA were bowled out for 156 in 19.5 overs before a bumper Caribana holiday crowd.

Opener Yunus Usuf (30) once again gave GFSCA a rollicking start, smashing three sixes and two fours, but apart from Jagdesh Persaud (28), the much-touted middle-order failed to get going as Shazam Baksh (two for 18), Patrick Shivrattan (two for 16) and Lal Singh (two for 28) led the OMSI bowling.
Earlier, OMSI suffered an immediate setback, losing skipper Shivnauth Seeram (0ne) with two runs on the board before Dhaniram and Jaimini Singh (25) steadied the innings with a fine 92-run second wicket partnership.

Dhaniram, who started cautiously, exploded towards the end of the innings, blasting six sixes and four fours as OMSI recovered handsomely to post what was eventually a winning total. Ramo Malone took two for 33 and Jagdesh Persaud two for 34.
Meanwhile, New York Hustlers earned the right to meet OMSI after defeating Better Hope Legacy by 47 runs in a one-sided affair.

Taking first strike, Better Hope Legacy reached 130 all out in 20 overs with Troy Gobin (26) and Desmond Cholmondely (25) being the principle scorers. Harry Rajpaul took two for 27.
Better Hope Legacy were restricted to 83 for six in their 20 overs with Paul Dass hitting a top-score of 28. Satrohan Balkarran (three for nine) and Ronald Evelyn (three for 16) were the destroyers.

Today’s Open final will be an all New York affair with NYSCL All-Stars coming up against SVC/Mafia Cricket Club.
The action switches to the University of Toronto ground with masters final set to bowl off at 9.30 am and the Open at 2.30 pm. (Frederick Halley)