By Frederick Halley

TORONTO, Canada — Hawaiian Sensation (HS) ended their inaugural Ontario Masters Softball Cricket Clubs (OMSCC) season in a blaze of glory, capturing the Division Two title in emphatic fashion on Sunday at Littles ground here, their opponents All Stars conceding the game when they were 60 for two in the seventh over in pursuit of a mammoth 262 for victory in their allotted 20 overs. 

Having won nine of their 10 regular season games and topping their division with 54 points, HS were well positioned to record another comprehensive victory when All Stars skipper Kenny Girdharry led his players off, alleging that the opposition bowlers were pelting. The officiating umpires subsequently awarded the game to HS.

Earlier, HS batsmen had run riot on the All Stars attack, reaching 261 for three in 20 overs, the highest score ever recorded in a final in the 20-year history of the league.

Led by a scintillating opening stand of 114 in 10 overs by Zaheer ‘Terry’ Baksh and Imtiaz Badshaw, the tone was set for a mauling by the top order who saw a further 147 being scored in the remaining 10 overs for the lost of just two wickets.

Looking well set for a deserved century, Baksh was left high and dry on 93 when the innings ended. He hit four fours and cleared the boundary on seven occasions on the relatively small ground.

Badshaw, who went caught and bowled by Marcel Arokium off the last ball of the 10th over, slammed two fours and six sixes.

Baksh also shared a second-wicket stand of exactly 100 with his captain, former Guyana wicketkeeper batsman Azib Ali Hanif, whose 38 was spiced with four fours and two sixes while Abdool Azeez helped himself to a quick-fire 32 with five towering sixes, sharing an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 43 with Baksh.

Arokium finished with one for 17, Wayne Barrett one for 26 and Girdharry one for 43. Iqbal Rahaman took both wickets to fall when All Stars batted, conceding 12 runs in the process.

Baksh was voted the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the game, and, apart from receiving a trophy for his effort, he was also the recipient of a cash incentive.

In a high-scoring semi-final the previous day, played at Woburn ground, Azib Ali Hanif had the unique distinction of blasting six sixes in an over bowled by Sheldon Burnett of Cougars, another OMSCC record. He also received a cash incentive.

Apart from copping the winners’ trophy, each member of the winning team was recipient of medals.

An elated skipper Haniff praised the efforts of co-owners Iqbal Rahaman and Harri Sukhu for putting the team together. And in a fine gesture, he also presented the winning trophy to Sukhu. The team was managed by Irshaud Osman with the president being ‘Doctor’ Amit Bacchus.

OMSCC president Azeem Khan acknowledged that it wasn’t the kind of atmosphere his executives had bargained for since both the division one and two finals experienced problems.

He nevertheless congratulated Hawaiian Sensation for their brilliant showing in their first season and expressed thanks to the several sponsors who contributed to the success of the tournaments.