By Frederick Halley

TORONTO, Canada – Buoyed by their nail-biting last-ball victory over defending champions Our Own in last Sunday’s Ontario Masters Softball Cricket Clubs (OMSCC) semi-final, played at St Bede’s ground here, debutants Dant Masters are brimming with confidence entering Sunday’s final against Warriors Cricket Club.

Seemingly down in the doldrums and needing 20 runs in the final over, two former Guyana youth players in skipper Troy Gobin and Zaheer Haniff pulled off a stunning victory, with the latter clobbering the final delivery over long-on off Mohan Singh for a mighty six.

Dant Masters’ victory also ensured that new champions will be crowned this year with Warriors, formerly East Coast Hustlers, set to make their third consecutive final appearance after being losing finalists in 2016 and 2017.

After dominating the tournament for several years and bowing out to the eventual winners Guyana Sports Club in 2016, Our Own rebounded to cart off the Champions Trophy in dramatic fashion at the same venue last year, defeating Hustlers with one ball to spare.

In 2016, Hustlers once again had to settle for the runner-up spot after going down to Guyana Sports Club in the final.

Dant Masters formation has seen the “defection” of several key players from Our Own and these include captain Troy Gobin, Zaheer Haniff, Ian Baldeo, Orin O’Neil and Satrohan ‘Blade’ Balkarran while Aftab Shamsudeen represented Hustlers previously.

The manager/player responsible for Dant Masters establishment, O’Neil, is supremely confident his players are capable of winning Sunday’s final and according to him, he’s proud of the achievements in just their first season.

O’Neil pointed out that the players are peaking at the right time after some sub-par performances during the regular season mainly due to some players’ unavailability.

O’Neil stated that when he assembled the team he told his players: “It’s going to be championship or bust.” A brilliant wicket-keeper in his own rights, his contribution behind the stumps has been limited due to a broken finger sustained early in the season.

While admitting that Warriors are a very strong unit, with several star players, which should make the final challenging, O’Neil believes the experience and depth of his team will be the difference, come Sunday.

Warriors’ batting will be led by the rampant Rovendra Mandolall, whose performances of late have been simply phenomenal. In last Sunday’s semi-final versus Royals, the former Guyana Under-19 player blasted an undefeated 77 to lead his team to victory. That innings followed another brilliant 83 not out for Car Tec against GTA Storm in the Ontario Softball Cricket League (OSCL) regular season semi-final played earlier in the day.

Warriors will also include the likes of skipper Rakesh Dyal, Eyaz Mohamed and Eon Katchay.

The Division 2 final will see Ramblers clashing with Reliance Lions in what also promises to be an interesting battle for championship honours.