DIRECTOR of the National COVID-19 Task Force, Colonel Nazrul Hussain, told Chronicle Sport yesterday that until the Everest Cricket Club (ECC) and the Georgetown Softball Cricket League (GSCL) re-establish some sort of confidence to the Task Force, all organised activities by the entities are put on hold, with approval given on a case-to-case basis. The President’s T20 Softball League descended into farce on Sunday afternoon when the Open final was called off, after the organisers discovered several breaches of COVID-19 protocols. This had led to President Irfaan Ali, upon arriving at the venue on Sunday, expressing his disappointment with the organisers and calling for those who are responsible to face the consequence for their action.

The Head of State had agreed to be patron of the tournament with the assurance that the organisers would adhere to the National COVID-19 guidelines. However, the venue was packed to almost capacity, with the majority of the spectators breaching the COVID-19 guidelines – failing to wear a mask and lacking social distancing.
The GSCL had on Monday refused to take the blame solely, saying ECC, the venue where the three-day tournament ended in an anti-climactic fashion, should shoulder the responsibility for the COVID-19 breaches. “We, the GSCL, had no control over the gate … the gate was solely monitored by ECC, so whoever comes in or goes out was out of our control,” president of GSCL, Ian John, said in an invited comment on Monday.
Both Speedboat and Regal All Star were declared as joint winners in the Open category. Earlier, Regal won the Over-40 and the Over-50 age divisions.