SCC and “Our Own” victorious at Toronto Cup 3

By Ravendra Madholall

Softball Cricket Club (SCC) and Our Own were victorious at the 2019 Toronto Cup 3 which was played last Sunday at the Toronto University ground, Scarborough campus.

In the opening category, SCC defeated arch-rivals Rebels by four wickets while Our Own beat Canadian Legends by three wickets in the over-40 Division.

Rebels won the toss and batted first; they reached a competitive 113-5 from the reduced 15-overs due to rain while SCC, in reply, safely surpassed the target in the penultimate over losing six wickets in the process.

The victorious SCC team and their supporters

Leading the way for SCC was Avinash Sookdeo with a responsible 26, which included two fours, while Zaheer Allard and Azam Haniff contributed 24 and 20 respectively, as former Guyana first-class fast-bowler Trevon Garraway grabbed two wickets for 26 runs from three overs. Richard Latiff was also on target with the ball snaring two wickets for 28 runs in his three-over spell.

When Rebels batted, the in-form Garraway slammed an unbeaten 42 while extras was a healthy 39. Sunil Ramkissoon bagged four wickets for 13 runs from three tidy overs to claim the player-of-the-match award.

In the over-40 Category, Our Own invited Canadian Legends to take first strike, and they only managed a 105 off the 20-overs while Our Own responded nicely, scoring 108-8 with two overs to spare. Ex-Guyana youth batsman Troy Gobin top-scored for Canadian Legends with 33 as former Canada international player Aftab Shamsudeen snatched two wickets for 21 runs in his four overs. Our Own’s victory chase was led by the experienced Asif Ally who hit an impressive 36. He was later named player-of-the-match for his outstanding batting innings.

Since the inauguration of the Toronto Cup in 2015, this is the first time the host League, Ontario Masters Softball Cricket Clubs won in the over-50 category.

Home team Toronto Blizzards overwhelmed New York Hustlers by 37 runs also at the same facility. Blizzards set up a challenging 160-5 from the allotted 20-overs while New York Hustlers could only muster 123 all out in the 18th over. Jaimini Singh hit an attractive 76  punctuated with three sixes and seven overs for Blizzards while Rajpaul Persaud took 2 wickets for 24 runs from his four overs. In New York’s innings, Ken Sanichar made 42 as Lalchand Shivraj picked up three wickets for 17 runs from four overs; he was well supported by Terry Mathura who accounted for two victims.

Singh was inevitably named player-of-the-match for his beautiful batting display.

President of the Ontario Masters Azeem Khan, while praising all the teams for their participation in the three-day tournament, was delighted with the presence of Toronto’s deputy mayor Michael Thompson and councillor Jennifer McKelvie of Ward 25 – Scarborough Rouge who readily accepted the invitation from the league.