…heading to Orlando Cup in early April

By Frederick Halley

AFTER what could be described as an indifferent 2024 season, which saw them entering winners’ row on just one occasion in four “international” tournaments, perennial champions Regal Legends are aiming to start 2025 in a blaze of glory when the Orlando Cup, set for April 4-6, bowls off in Florida.

A rather confident owner, Mahendra “Anil” Hardyal, has shrugged off the notion that Regal Legends are no longer the dominant force to be reckoned with in the Legends Over-50 tournaments and is confident of retaining championship honours in Orlando.

According to Hardyal, who is also the proprietor of Regal Stationery & Computer Centre, while winning is always important, he’s extremely proud of the role Regal Legends, and by extension his business, have been playing in the development and sustaining of the grassroot sport in and out of Guyana.

It will be recalled that when Regal Legends stormed to an emphatic 45-run victory over hosts Orlando in March 2023, it was regarded as a “mission accomplished,” since it was the only tournament that eluded them after joining the softball fraternity several years before.

Following the success in Orlando, Regal Legends subsequently carted off the inaugural Speaker’s Cup in late April, won the New York Softball Cricket League (NYSCL) title in a high-scoring encounter versus Toronto Blizzards, the seventh edition of the Prime Minister’s tournament against NYSCL and the inaugural Vice-president Cup versus Aash Décor, thereby making a clean sweep of all the major titles in 2023.

Then came 2024 and the decline was glaring. Rebranded Regal New York Hustlers, with the addition of a few players from New York, for the South Florida Softball Cricket League (SFSCL) tournament in February, they lost to NYSCL Legends by six wickets in a closely fought encounter.

Worst was to come as Regal Legends suffered a shock exit from the NYSCL Independence Cup in July, losing both of their games on the opening day of the 19th annual three-day tournament.
Competing in what can be described as the “Group of Death,” the defending champions were thrashed by Toronto Blizzards by six wickets in the day’s opener and later by NYSCL Legends 1 by nine wickets in the second game, sending shock waves among the players and loyal supporters.

There was no respite for Regal Legends as they also surrendered the Prime Minister’s Cup title to Berbice’s Jai Hind, ending their supremacy since the category was introduced in the annual tournament in 2017.

Led by a superb knock of 67 from Lloyd Ruplall, Jai Hind held their nerves to register a five-wicket win with one over to spare after Regal Legends staged a fightback in defence of their 163 for nine in the allotted 20 overs.

Regal Legends however ensured they ended the year in winning ways, retaining top honours in the second edition of the Vice-president T20 Softball Cup tournament, easing to a comfortable eight-wicket victory over Jai Hind in the final.

The victory was a reversal of their loss to the same opponents in the final of the eighth edition of the Prime Minister’s T20 softball tournament.
Set 169 for victory, after the Berbicians had reached a respectable 168 for seven in their allotted 20 overs, Regal Legends achieved the feat in 18.5 overs.

It should be noted that during the ensuing period, the Campbellville-based team suffered the loss of one of its stalwart players in Eric Thomas who died in November 2023, following a tragic accident a few months earlier. An injury to the prolific left-hander Ramesh Narine, who hasn’t represented the team since the NYSCL tournament last year, was also a huge blow.