By Frederick Halley

TORONTO, Canada – Dant took the lion’s share of the Division A titles when the Ontario Softball Cricket League (OSCL) held its glittering 22nd annual Presentation Dinner and Dance at the Estate Banquet Hall, Scarborough, recently.

Dant were crowned Division A regular season (20 overs) conference winners, Division A playoff champions and T10 tournament winners; but had to settle for the runner-up spot in the 15-over competition, going down to archrivals Sunshine in the final.
In the process, they copped the Twilight Family Restaurant, Remax All Stars Realty, DTE Industries and the Norman Sue Bakery trophies; the latter for being runners-up.
It was also a fantastic year for Restoration Warriors and Enmore; the former capturing the B Division playoff crown, while Enmore were regular season conference winners, victors in the T10 tournament and runners-up in the regular season playoffs.

For their efforts, Restoration Warriors walked away with the Fundex Investment Inc trophy while Enmore took away the I Saw That on TV and DTE Industries trophies and the Starlite and Cabana restaurants trophies for being runners-up in the playoffs championships.
The 15-over Norman Sue Bakery A Division Consolation winners were EC Bannas who trounced Rebels in the final, while Betterhope won the DTE Industries 10-over consolation title with victory over Caribbean Sensation. Ramblers were the B Division consolation champions with Bacchus Cricket Club (BCC) being the runners-up.
Not to be outdone, Wakenaam were crowned Norman Sue Bakery B Division 15-over champs following their victory over GTA Storm B, while Ramblers carted off the Consolation title with Good Success being the runners-up.

Among the Most Valuable Players (MVP) recipients were Dant’s Damodar Daesrath and EC Bannas’ Elton Baker in the Conference A playoff final; Fazil Rasool (Restoration Warriors) and Mohamed Zakeer Yusuf (Enmore) in the Conference B playoff final; Hemnarine Chattergoon (Dant), Azam Haniff (Sunshine), Andy Persaud (EC Bannas), Troy Gobin (Rebels), Kemraj Dhanpaul (GTA Storm B), Sharaz Hamid (Wakenaam), Moin Khan (Good Success) and Mark Chablall in the Norman Sue-sponsored 15-over tournament.
The DTE Industries sponsored 10-over MVPs were Chattergoon (Dant), Imtiaz Moursalien (Rebels), Steve Ramdas (Enmore), Krishna Arjune (Restoration Warriors), Avinash Singh (Betterhope), Imran Khan (Caribbean Sensation), Hardat Chablall (Ramblers) and Bisnauth Singh (BCC).

Betterhope’s Avinash Singh, with 270 runs, led Conference A with the most runs while Surujpaul Deosarran (Rems) and Riaz Kadir (Dant) were second and third respectively, with 229 and 202 respectively.
In the B Division, Bharrat Latchman (Carr Tec) led the way with 348 runs and he was followed by Suresh Persaud (Carr Tec) and Shiv Persaud (Enmore) with 334 and 331 respectively.

The three top bowlers in Conference A were Raja Amit Pooran (EC Bannas), Davendra Ramkissoon (Betterhope) and Rabindra Diaram (Dant) with 20, 19, and 17 wickets, respectively.
The B Conference saw Shiv Persaud (Enmore) topping the bowling with 30 wickets, six more than Surendra Persaud (Wakenaam) and Dinannauth Mangru (Cougars) who ended the season with 23.

Centuries were recorded by Scarbo Angels’ Anil Girdharry (168) and Enmore’s Steve Ramdas (100), while there were five-wicket hauls for Ashok Ramhas (Carr Tec), Mangru (Cougars), Diaram (Dant), Naveed Ali (Good Success), Ameer Baksh (Wakenaam) and Surendra Beepat (Wakenaam).
The annual Independence Cup, sponsored by Trophy Stall (Guyana), was won by Team Jaguars with Zakir Khan emerging as the MVP. Jaguars also carted off the All Stars trophy with the MVP being Aftab Shamshudeen for the winning team and Alvin Budhram taking the coveted prize for the losing Kaieteur side. Coordinator Vish Jadunauth was the manager for both winning teams.

The Norman Sue Spirit Awards, given annually to worthy individuals who have played big roles, both on and off the field, were presented to members of Carr Tec team for their role in moulding Alisha Ramadhar, the one female player in the league. Ramadhar represented Ramblers.