THE FIRST leg of this year’s Inter-county softball cricket tournament is set to bowl off this Sunday at the Camp Road-based Everest Cricket Club ground from 10:00hrs and will be played on a series basis in the 20/20 format, with the counties with the most points squaring off in a grand finale to be held in Demerara later this year.This Inter-county tournament is being coordinated in collaboration with the National Sports Commission, Guyana Softball League and its affiliates in Berbice Softball Alliance, Essequibo Softball Cricket League and the Georgetown Softball Cricket League Inc (GSCL).

This is the first leg and is being hosted by GSCL and includes a number of incentives and trophies with the top team earning $50 000 and a beautiful trophy and the runners-up gaining $25 000 and a trophy.
In addition to the above-mentioned prizes, the man-of-the-match awardees for the series will earn trophies and medals and each leg will carry a similar amount of incentives, with the next two legs of the series being played in Berbice and Essequibo, culminating with the grand finale.
For Sunday’s encounter, Berbice will be sponsored by Vickram Seubarran and a 20-man squad will begin training immediately with a view towards selection. The team is led by Darshan Charitar and includes some very explosive players in David Looknauth, Michael Ramdial and Troy Kippins.
Essequibo had reportedly invited top players to assemble for trials last Wednesday. The team will be led by the experienced Latchman Rohit along with Patrick Rooplall.
The two Demerara teams who will be on show in this leg, are being sponsored by Regal Stationery, who will look after the ‘A’ team which will be led by the experienced Richard Latiff and includes the likes of Chien Gittens, Timur Mohamed and Safraz Esau.
Wolf’s Furniture Store will be sponsoring the ‘B’ team to be skippered by the exciting Amrit Rai and will include Vishnu Tamenchandra and Ricardo Adams among others.
The man in charge of selecting the Demerara teams is veteran softball player Lance Adams along with a three-man panel. For Berbice, Omeshwar Shrikishun is in charge of selection, while the Essequibo selection panel will be in the hands of Brian Christiani and Ramnarine Ragubar.
The heads of the selection panel of all three counties will accompany their respective teams for Sunday’s matches, while the umpire panel for the matches has already been put in place with the top umpires from all three counties being on show.
The tournament is being held with the view of showcasing the top players in each county and which will confirm the top county in softball cricket; at the same time enabling the players to raise the bar in terms of competition.
This will also give fans an opportunity to see the level of softball cricket being played in each county and to support their favourite players performing against the top counterparts from the other counties.
The dates for the other clashes will be finalised on Sunday when all three bodies meet. Additionally a Masters tournament will be played with West Coast taking on Georgetown and using this as a benchmark for selection of a team to participate in the Florida Cup this month end