West crush East in feature encounter

By Frederick Halley

FLOODLIGHT softball took Keele Top by storm last Friday night as hundreds turned out to witness the Dassie & Friends-organised one-night tournament, featuring the popular round-arm version between Young Warriors and Leguan Boys and the ‘flick’ bowling contest between East and West – the first of its kind in Ontario, Canada.
At the end of an entertaining night, with the presentation ceremony ending close to midnight, Young Warriors defeated upstarts Leguan Warriors by five wickets while the highly-anticipated clash between East and West saw the former offering token resistance as they were crushed by ten wickets.
With the feature game reduced from 15 to 12 overs, East were inserted to take first strike, reaching an inadequate 71 for two in their allotted overs. Opener Mike Kadir was undefeated on 21 when the innings ended, his knock spanning 28 balls and including a solitary four and a six.
Kumar Doodnauth struck 17 (one six) but his 24-ball effort proved costly as the West bowlers kept a tight rein on proceedings. The burly Farook Hussain, from whom much was expected, went via run-out for five, while Zaheer Allard (three) was the other wicket to fall. Sunil Ramkissoon was the lone wicket-taker with one for 14 from three overs.

Openers Avish Rukhram (34 not out) and Avinash Sookdeo with an unbeaten 28 then proceeded to plunder the East bowling, racing to the required target in 7.5 overs with the left-handed Rukrham spanking three fours and a six, while right-hander Sookdeo blasted two fours and two sixes.
In the round-arm fixture, Leguan Boys batted first and made 108 for six in their allotted 10 overs with Sheik Parsram belting six massive sixes in a quick-fire 33 off a mere 12 balls while Raymond Tiwari chipped in with a breezy 20 which contained a four and two sixes from 10 deliveries. Kris Karran captured two for 19 while Josh Singh and Naresh Singh supported with one for 13 and 19 respectively.
Leguan Warriors achieved the required target in 8.5 overs, thanks to impressive knocks from Alvin Lalu who smashed two fours and four sixes before he went via run-out for a top score of 34 while Naresh Singh clobbered three sixes in 21 off 10 balls to see his team home.

At the presentation ceremony, which followed, organiser Damodar Daesrath, the former Guyana national captain thanked the several sponsors – Jazzy Trading, Ltd H&I Home Renovation and General Contracting, Andy Contracting Services, IR Contracting and Hawaiian Arctic – for their generous sponsorship of all the trophies.
Special commendations were also extended to Mahendranauth ‘Bobby’ Parasnauth and Tony Ramdass for their financial contributions.
The West players collected $1300 (Can) and the winners’ trophy while runners-up East received $300 (Can) and a trophy.
Rukhram was the recipient of three awards, which included trophies and cash prizes – being adjudged the best player in the winning team, recording the highest score and taking a wicket. The top player award from East went to Mike Kadir who also received a trophy and cash incentive.

Young Warriors took home $900 (Can) and a trophy for winning the round-arm affair while the losing team, Leguan Warriors got $300 (Can) and a trophy.
The best player award for the winning team went to Sheik Parsram who collected a trophy and cash while similar awards were handed out to Lalu of Leguan Warriors. The award for the best catch was given to Imtiaz Badshaw,
Daesrath also used the occasion to make mention of the ongoing Guyana food drive which has so far yielded $4 000 (Can). Among the main contributors to date are the Looknauth, Bhujan, Punwasi and Amar families and Cutting Edge.