By Frederick Halley
DEFENDING champions Ariel Masters went on a boundary-hitting spree against arch-rivals Regal Masters to retain honours in the Masters Over-40 category when the ninth edition of the Prime Minister T20 Softball Cup ended at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary on Sunday.
In probably one of the most ruthless batting displays witnessed on the local softball scene, Ariel Masters, aided by brutal centuries from opener Sarfraz Karim (113) and Richard Latiff with an even hundred, reached an imposing 290 for two in their allotted 20 overs.
In reply, Regal Legends huffed and puffed their way to 191 for seven, going down by the huge margin of 99 runs.
Left-handed Karim seemed on a mission from the onset, plundering boundaries at will while his opening partner and skipper, Samuel Kingston was quite content to play second fiddle despite joining the party occasionally.
The two added 177 for the first wicket before Karim was bowled by Patrick Rooplall in the 14th over after spanking three fours and 14 effortless sixes.
There was no letting up for the Regal Masters bowlers with the arrival of Latiff, who made his intentions very clear. He added a further 43 with Kingston for the second wicket before the latter departed for 60 which included two fours and six sixes.
Thereafter it was the Latiff show as his new partner Harrynarine Dilchand was a mere spectator, the two adding an unbeaten 60 for the third wicket. So dominant was Latiff in the partnership, Dilchand ended on four not out.
Latiff needed 12 runs off the last two deliveries of the final over to complete a well-deserved century and he duly obliged by blasting both over the boundary to secure an even hundred, smacking four fours and 11 sixes in the process.
Faced with the daunting task of scoring almost 15 runs per over, Regal Legends started positively with opener Vishwanauth Lall playing some delightful strokes, but his opening partner Patrick Rooplall, a key batter in the team, never got going.
Lall eventually went for 34 (two fours and two sixes) while Rooplall could only muster seven.
It was a steady procession thereafter. Asif Ali hit a top score of 39 (three fours and three sixes) while other useful contributions came from Lakeram Roopnarine, 33, with one four and four sixes and skipper Lennox Mark, 25, with three sixes.
Latiif crowned a fine all-round performance, bagging two for 38 from his four overs while Kingston took two for 23.
Apart from copping the winners’ trophy, Ariel Masters collected the winners’ purse of $500,000 while runners-up Regal Masters got the runners-up trophy and $200,000. Latiff walked away with three of the major incentive prizes – a refrigerator for being the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the category after amassing 423 runs, including three centuries, a floor model water dispenser for scoring the most runs and a microwave for taking the most wickets, all compliments of Regal Stationery and Computer Centre. Karim received a trophy for being adjudged player of the final.
The trophies for all four categories – Women, Open All Class, Masters Over-40 and Legends Over-50 were donated by Ramesh Sunich of Trophy Stall. Patron of the tournament, Prime Minister Mark Phillips was on hand to hand over the prizes after also witnessing the latter stages of the Open and Masters finals.