… 26 teams likely to participate

By Frederick Halley
IT was floated as an idea some four months ago at a restaurant and bar in Toronto and among the five individuals present were three stalwarts (Azeem Khan, Feizal Bacchus and Dickey Singh), who had already been part of an entity, the Ontario Masters Softball Cricket Clubs (OMSCC) that had staged three previous Toronto Cups in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

That idea is set to become a reality in the first weekend of September when the Ontario Twilight Softball Cricket League (OTSCL), after much dedication and hard work, embarks on its inaugural Canada Cup, a forerunner to the previous Toronto Cups.

According to OTSCL president, Azeem Khan, he’s confident that the tournament will be a huge success and has assured that it will take on an international flavour with teams expected from New York, Orlando and Florida while several teams in Toronto are also scheduled to participate in the holiday weekend extravaganza.

The Guyana Floodlights Softball Cricket Association (GFSCA), who was at the forefront of staging tournaments of this magnitude a few years back, will also be represented by a Over-50 team, expected to comprise some old stalwarts and players drawn from Toronto.

The tournament, which is expected to see 26 teams vie for supremacy, will have four categories: Over-50 (Legends), Over-40 (Masters), and Open (flick and round-arm) bowling with trophies and attractive cash incentives up for grabs.

The organisers have set August 15 for teams to finalise their participation while the draw will be done via Zoom on Monday, August 29. The tournament will start off with an Opening Night Launch on Thursday, September 1 at 19.00hrs at the Tropical Nights Restaurant, featuring the teams’ representatives and sponsors.

Games will be played primarily in Scarborough and surrounding areas, starting on Friday morning with the finals on Sunday at the Ashtonbee Park Reservoir, a change from the original Ellesmere facility because of the necessary parking facilities.

Based on the tournament’s playing conditions, if there are eight teams in a division, that division will be split into Group 1 and Group 2). Teams listed in the fixtures as 1-4 shall form Group 1 and teams listed 5-8 shall form Group 2.

With only four teams set to contest the Open Division, the teams will play three preliminary games. The two top teams with the most points/best Net Run Rate (NRR) will play in the final.
In the round-arm category, which will see all the preliminary matches being played in the West End, the teams play three preliminary games, following which the top two teams from each group (most points/best NRR) will play in the semi-finals. First place from Group 1 will play second place from Group 2, first place from Group 2 will play second place from Group 1. Winners will play in final. The same applies for the Over-40 Masters once eight teams participate.

With six teams likely to contest the Legends Over-50, the teams will play three preliminary games. The four teams with the most points/best NRR will play in the semi-finals first versus fourth and second versus three. The two winners will clash in the final

In the event of an odd number of teams participating in any division, the team(s) drawing a bye(s) will not play 3 games. The teams drawing byes will be awarded six points.
The NRR in a single game is the average runs per over that team scores, minus the average runs per over that is scored against them. The NRR in a tournament is the average runs per over that a team scores across the whole tournament, minus the average runs per over that is scored against them.

For the preliminary and semi-final rounds where the result is a tie, a Super-Over will be used to determine the outcome of the game.
For participation in the Masters Over-40 category, players should be born 1982 or earlier while teams are also allowed one player born in 1983. In the Legends Over-50 category, players should be born 1972 or earlier while teams are allowed one player born in 1973.