By Frederick Halley

MORE than Cdn$6 000 will be up for grabs when the first-ever two-day Canada Softball Bash bowls off tomorrow at venues in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

Following a draft, which took place two weekends ago, six teams will vie for supremacy with the winners guaranteed the top prize of Cdn$4000 and the winners’ trophy while the runners-up will take home Cdn$1000 and a trophy. The Player-of-the-Tournament will earn a diamond ring valued at Cdn$1000 Special incentive prizes will also be awarded to the best fielder, best batsman and best bowler.

A brainchild of businessman Rajesh Willie, the two-day extravaganza is being run under the auspices of Softball Cricket Canada and comes at a time when all the major associations in Ontario decided to cancel the official season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The six teams competing this year are: Canadian Legends, Double Trouble, Northern Warriors, Lara 11, Toronto Softball Cricket Club (TSCC) and Super Kings.

While the tournament is being played with the white ball, a major stipulation is two of the 10 overs must be bowled using the roundarm method.

The draft, which was done at Cabana Restaurant & Lounge, Mississauga, lived up to its hype with all six teams opting for calibre players in their opening picks – Loaknauth ‘Colgate’ Ramsuchit going to Northern Warriors, Mahendranauth ‘Bobby’ Parasnauth – Double Trouble, Shaun Deonandan – Lara X1, Hemnarine Chattergoon – Canadian Legends, Avinash Sookdeo (TSCC) and Sunil ‘Skello’ Ramkissoon – Super Kings.

Ramsuchit, who recently led Softball Cricket Canada to victory in the Canada Softball Cricket Association (SCCA) 10/10 tournament, will also have experienced players in Azam Haniff, Riaz Kadir and Munniram Karran in his lineup.

Apart from Sookdeo, TSCC will also be boosted by the presence of Damodar Daesrath, Farouk Hussain and Zakir Khan.

Chattergoon, who will skipper Canadian Legends, will have the support of Aftab Shamsudeen, Ravi Lall Beharry and Avish Rukram.

Super Kings ‘top guns’ include Ramkissoon, Richard Dias, Ian ‘Russian’ Baldeo and Rishi Samuel.

Experienced all-rounder Parasnauth will also have the services of round-arm sensation Amit Rukram, Imran Ali, Mike Kadir and Nick Sarwan, among others.

Not to be outdone, Lara’s XI will see the likes of Deonandan, big-hitting Zaheer Allard, Anil Mahadeo and all-rounder Troy Gobin.

Already plans are in place to make the tournament an annual affair and according to Willie, next year’s bash will see the winners take home a whopping Cdn$10 000. Overseas teams will also be invited to participate.

The tournament bowls off tomorrow at 10.00hrs with a launch set for today night at Windies Restaurant & Bar, Scarborough.

Preliminary round matches will be played at the Woburn and West Hill ground, Scarborough while the semi-finals and final are set for Greenbriar ground, Brampton on Sunday.

Among the several sponsors are Softball Cricket Canada, Tropical Nights, Windies Restaurant & Bar, AP Staffing, Omesh Jewelry, JDG Tooling & Automation, Cabana Restaurant & Lounge, Dent Wizard, I Saw That On TV, Canadian Surplus Guyana, Fusion Restaurant, RR CPA Professional Corporation, RRW Accounting Solutions, Alarm TechZ, Bhowan Persaud – Century 21 Regal Realty and Cynthia Singh -Realtor.