LINDEN team Speghtland stopped home team Kwakwani by 42 runs after amassing 178 for three in their allotted 20 overs as the hosts could only muster 136 for 7 in reply, to cart off honours when the grand final of the Prime Minister Mark Phillips inaugural $1M T20 softball championship was played last Sunday at the Kwakwani ground.

The tournament which started and ended in the Sub- District Two of Region 10 (Upper-Demerara/ Upper-Berbice) is set to be an annual feature and this year it attracted sixteen teams from within the region.
Prime Minister Phillips was there to help with the presentation and remarked to the rapturous applause of the energetic crowd that gathered: “This is something that has started in Kwakwani and will continue. This is the first edition of the Prime Minister’s Cup for Region 10. which means that every year we will have other editions, and we will start it here at Kwakwani and we will finish it here at Kwakwani.”

In Addition to that, the event was planned to be one that will enhance sports tourism in that sub-district region according to the Prime Minister’s representative Orin Wilson.
“So, the planners need to identify if it will start at the end of July and finish at the end of August and make it a calendar event and a tourist related event for Kwakwani,” said PM Phillips said as he hinted at the relevance of such a tournament.
Under brilliant sunshine over the two days of the weekend, the Speightland and Kwakwani sides triumphed over their semifinal opponents, Calcuni and Malali on Saturday, to set up the grand final on Sunday.

Speightland captured $500,000 and the huge Prime Minister Phillips trophy and bragging rights.  Kwakwani for that second placed finish collected $300,000 and the runner’s-up trophy, while Calcuni for defeating Malali got $200,000 and a trophy as Malali had to settle for $60,000. (Joe Chapman)