By Frederick Halley
REGAL All Stars and SVC All Stars ended a perfect day in the Open category of the third edition of the Prime Minister T20 Softball Cup which bowled off at several venues across Georgetown yesterday in brilliant sunshine.

Playing at the Queen’s College ground, Thomas Lands, Regal All Stars firstly upstaged two-time defending champions Speedboat by 66 runs and then whipped United All Stars by a whopping 100 runs in the second fixture.

It was also a good day for the New York-based SVC who dented the hopes of Bartica and Cottonfield Wild Oats at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground, Queenstown.
Led by a brilliant 110 from Sachin Singh and supporting knocks of 44 and 41 from Delroy Perreira and Fazal Rafeek respectively, Regal All Stars reached a formidable 224 for three in their allotted 20 overs. United were routed for 124 in 15.5 overs. There were three wickets each for Perreira and Ravindra Ramnauth while Rafeek took two wickets without conceding a run.

In their first encounter versus Speedboat, Regal All Stars rattled up 170 for eight with Singh leading the way with 46. Speedboat were limited to 104 all out in 15.4 overs with Perreira and Ramnauth again among the wickets with three each.
SVC wins were recorded against Bartica and Cottonfield Wild Oats, both through excellent knocks from the experienced Richard Latiff who scored 73 against Bartica and 62 versus Cottonfield Wild Oats,

Batting first against Bartica, SVC rattled up 187 for seven and skittled Bartica for 60 in 13 overs. Latiff returned to claim four for 10 while Bobby Prahalad took three for 12. Chasing 152 for victor y versus Cottonfield Wild Oats, SVC achieved the target in 15.5 overs.
Meahwhile, the battle for semi-final places in the Masters Over-45 category is interestingly poised after the completion of day onet.

Last year’s runners-up Wellman Masters have already signalled their intentions, playing unbeaten in their two matches, defeating defending champions and archrivals Regal Masters in the process after earlier disposing of HS Masters.

In their first encounter versus HS Masters, Wellman Masters reached 176 for eight in their allotted 20 overs with skipper Wayne Jones leading from the front with 34 (two fours, two sixes) while Greg DeFranca made 33 (three fours, two sixes). M. Fung took three for 19.
HS Masters could only muster 123 for nine at the end of their allotted 20 overs with F. Ali (26) and A. Seenanan (29) being the principal scorers.

The second game saw Wellman Masters registering an intriguing five-wicket win over archrivals Regal Masters after sending their opponents packing for 130 in 16.3 overs and reaching the required target with three balls to spare. DeFranca had the impressive figures of five for 23 from four overs.

It took a superb unbeaten fifth-wicket stand of 59 between Nandram Samlall (44 not out) and Jones (15 not out) to ensure Wellman secure the much-needed win after they were in some bother at 72 for five in the 10th over. DeFranca crowned a fine all-round performance, hitting 32.

Regal Masters started their defence in emphatic fashion, thrashing Fishermen Masters by 56 runs. Led by a fine captain’s knock of 62 (five four, three sixes) from Mahendra Arjune and 45 from David Harper, Regal Masters rushed to 180 for eight in 20 overs and restricted Fishermen Masters to 124 for six. Jagdesh Persaud hit a top score of 57 (five fours, two sixes). Mahendranauth “Bobby” Parasnauth grabbed three for 16.