By Frederick Halley

REGAL Legends overcame a mid-innings batting jitters to emerge winners of the Legends Over-50 category when the ninth edition of the Prime Minister T20 Softball Cup ended at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary, on Sunday.
In a game where the pendulum swung to and fro with both teams powerful batting lineups failing to live up to expectations, Regal Legends prevailed in the end with skipper Troy Gobin and Khemchand Dindyal holding their nerves in a tense unbeaten 59-run seventh-wicket partnership to secure a thrilling four-wicket victory.
Winning the toss and opting to field against opponents, Fisherman Masters, the decision paid immediate dividends with Canadian-based Guyanese Richard Driffield sending back the prolific Uniss Yusuf in the very first over.
It was soon three for three in the third over with Driffield also accounting for Zakeer Hassan without scoring and David Harper joining the fray with the wicket of Zakir Salim.

Then came the rescue act. Veteran left-hander, Jagdesh Persaud, better known in softball circles as “Tangle Hand,” joined forces with Latchman Mohan, adding 101 for the fourth wicket before Roy Persaud bowled Persaud for a brilliant 64.
Persaud, who smashed one four and eight massive sixes, completely dominated the partnership with Mohan playing second fiddle while contributing a useful 19.
It was all downhill after as the last six wickets fell for the addition of a mere 30 runs as Fisherman ended on 134 all out in 18.1 overs.
Skipper Troy Gobin, who conceded 21 in his first over, returned to grab four for 29 in 3.1 overs to engineer the lower-order collapse while Roy Persaud finished with three for 34 from four and Driffield two for 25, also from four.
Regal Legends were given a flying start as opener Troy Lewis, who had earlier smashed a boundary-studded 109 on Friday’s opening day, spanked a four and two sixes in a quick-fire 20 but lost his wicket in attempting another big hit over long-on.
The complexion of the game changed dramatically with Regal supporters on tenterhooks as they slipped to 79 for six in the 13th over before Dindyal with an unbeaten 34 which was spiced with three fours and six and Gobin with 30 not out off a mere 17 balls, containing five fours and six ensured there were no further alarms. Manoj Arjune bowled impressively to claim three for 30 from his four overs.
At the presentation ceremony, graced by the presence of Patron of the tournament, Prime Minister Mark Phillips, the winners waltz away with the grand first prize of $800, 000 and a trophy while the runners-up received $200,000 and a trophy.
In addition, the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the division, Uniss Yusuf, who totalled 261 runs, including a century and took five wickets, took home a three-piece living room suite. He also collected one floor model dispenser for scoring the most runs while Gobin got a trophy for being the man-of-the-match in the final and a microwave for claiming the most wickets (12).
Trophies for all four categories were donated by Ramesh Sunich of Trophy Stall fame.