.jpg)
…Baksh, Driffield and Hunte cop MVP awards
By Frederick Halley
HAWAIIAN Sensation (HS) stole the spotlight when the Ontario Masters Softball Cricket Clubs (OMSCC) held is 19th annual presentation, dinner and dance at the Qssis Banquet Banquet Halls, Scarborough here last Saturday night.
Making their debut in the Over-40 Division 2 category, Hawaiian Sensation were simply sensational, losing one game on their way to running away with the regular season title before making hash of All Stars in the Grand Championship final.
While it was a magnificent team performance throughout the season, all-rounder Zaheer Baksh stood out and was rewarded for his outstanding efforts, copping the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for Division 2, marking his second consecutive MVP albeit for Impac in 2018 while playing in Division 1. Baksh’s 106 and 82 were his best innings.
Not to be outdone, HS skipper Azib Ali Hanif, a former Guyana national wicket-keeper who led brilliantly from the front, was also in the limelight, his six sixes in one over, the first-ever in the 19-year history of the leafue, earning him a special incentive.
With the Division 1 Grand final being abandoned, Rebel Masters had to be contented with the regular season championship. However, their seasoned campaigner Richard Driffield was voted MVP for Division 1, reviving memories of 2017 when he played in Division 2. Driffield tallied 354 runs, including a fine knock of 104.
The evergreen Rickey Hunte, who turned out for Legends, hit the most runs (429) in the Legends Over-50 category and was fittingly judged the MVP. Innings of 128, 90, 81 and 60 bolstered his ratings.
The Captain-of-the-Year award, introduced for the first time in 2017, and sponsored by Dr Rudy Singh, went to Ramblers Patrick Shivrattan.
Four players, Naresh Bodo (Dirty Dozen), Dan Patram (OSCL TC3), Hazari Girdhari, Mahendranauth “Bobby” Parasnauth (Our Own) and Tariq Hussain (Ramblers) collected awards for recording a century, taking a hat-trick, taking six catches, a hattrick and five wickets in an innings respectively.
Special awards went to Jydeo Singh – outstanding fielding achievement in the Inter-county game and Sunil Dhaniram and Desmond Chumney of Our Own for outstanding catch in the Toronto Cup 3.
There were five-feat batting/bowling awards for Ganesh Ramraj of Miracles/Caribbean Sensation for scorers of 86, 94, bowling figures of two for 16 and two for 32 and a batting average of 57.50.
Geenarine Ram was the six-feat star, registering 279 runs which included scores of 81, 80, 102 and claiming two for nine and two for two.
Two players, former Guyana National Sunil Dhaniram (Toronto Blizzards) and Rajen Paul (Friendship Masters) were the four-feat recipients in the batting category, Dhaniram for 112, 86 not out, 74 not out and 73 while Paul hit 78 and 64 and averaged a phenomenal 198. The four-feat bowling feat went to Pegasus’ Uniss Yusuf for figures of four for 16, three for four, three for 14 and taking the most wickets (14) in Division 1.
Outstanding bowling awards (economy rates) went to Jerry Brittania in the Over-50, Gavin Glasgow (Division 1) and Sasenarine Panday (Division 2).
Appreciation Awards were given out to Hardat Paul, Peter Ramnarain, Rita Singh, Rickey Hunte, Ramkumar Singh, Nirad Lall and Guyana Chronicle freelance journalist Frederick Halley for their contributions to Toronto Cup 3; Nashenka Kistow (Ramblers), Simone Lall (Reliance Lions), Jennifer Baksh (HS), Naseer Baksh (Toronto Blizzards), Rommel Rampersaud (Pegasus) Nyssa Narine (Rebel Masters) and Terry Ramraj (Our Own).
Special recognition awards went to Anthony Whyte (Gologistics), Mohan Harihar (Our Own/Toronto Blizzards, John Ten-Pow (Friendship Masters), Roger Sunich (Trophy Stall), Harri Sukhu (DTE Industries) and Sharon and Errol Budhoo (All Trade Rentals).
