By Frederick Halley

TORONTO, Canada – Defending Caribbean Sensation 10/10 champions Dant are seeking to make it two in a row when they battle Rebels in Saturday’s eagerly-awaited final, set for the Ashtonbee number one ground, Scarborough here. The action gets underway at 09:00hrs.
The final, which also forms part of the Ontario Softball Cricket League (OSCL) family fun day and All Stars feature, is expected to attract a large crowd including kids of members of the league.
Added to the day’s proceedings is the B Conference final with Restoration Warriors coming to grips with Enmore at Ashtonbee number two as well as the two consolation finals which will see Caribbean Sensation meet Better Hope at Ashtonbee Reservoir number two and Ramblers and Bacchus Cricket Club face off at Ashtonbee Reservoir number one.
After relinquishing the title to Caribbean Sensation in 2015, when the tournament was played with white balls, Dant rebounded to lift the crown last year in a closely-fought encounter with Better Hope, triumphing by 12 runs at the same venue.
In last year’s final, Dant displayed their undoubted superiority over their rivals and have been exhibiting that same brand of cricket during the 2017 season in both the regular season games and knockout tournaments.
Led by former Berbice player Loaknauth Ramsuchit, Dant include the likes of vice-captain and opener Hemnarine Chattergoon, the hard-hitting Damodar Daesrath, and Riaz Kadir while the evergreen Satrohan ‘Blade’ Balkarran and Aftab ‘Maxie’ Shamshudeen lead the bowling attack. They will, however, be missing key all-rounder Shaun Deonandan through injury.
Balkarran is also coming off a superb Toronto Cup bowling performance, claiming 10 wickets for 37 runs from five matches which earned him the Most Valuable Player award for New York Hustlers in the Masters division of the Ontario Masters Cricket Clubs (OMSCC)-organised tournament.
When the two teams met in a regular season (20 overs) game on July 9, Dant easily disposed of their opponents with Riaz Kadir hitting a top score of 77 in Dant’s 137 for six. Rebels replied with 69 for nine in their allotted 20 overs.
Not to be outdone, Rebels are confident they can upstage their opponents. Skipper Zaheer ‘Bucky’ Haniff is expected to lead from the front and will be banking on former Guyana Under-19 player Troy Gobin and former Canadian national Desmond Cholmondeley to continue their fine form which was exhibited in the Toronto Cup.
The experienced duo of Gobin (35 not out) and Cholmondeley (40 not out) shared a brilliant unbeaten second-wicket stand of 75 which saw New York Hustlers register an easy nine-wicket victory over the Ontario Masters Softball International in last Sunday’s OMSCC’s Masters final, played at the University of Toronto ground here.
The B Conference final between archrivals Enmore and Restoration Warriors should also be brimful of interest where choosing a winner is not an easy task. Enmore, led by Shiv Persaud, are the current leaders in the B Conference regular season while the Ravi Bodo-led Restoration Warriors are sitting third.