By Ravendra Madholall
Former Guyana under-19 cricketer Ejaz Mohamed put in an excellent all-round performance to lead Cricketers Cove to the 2013 Ontario Softball Cricket League (OSCL) championships after beating East Coast Cricket Club by six wickets recently at the Lancaster ground.
Mohamed took two wickets for 11 runs from just a solitary over as East Coast only made 108-9 at the expiration of the 20 overs after they won the toss while Cricketers Cove, in reply, reached the target in 17th over with Mohamed hitting an unbeaten 27.
Mohamed, who copped the Most Valuable Player trophy, got great support from another former Guyana under-19 representative – Troy Gobin, who snatched four wickets for 14 runs from three stingy overs and Mike Mahadeo, also with two victims.
Ex-Guyana under-19 batsman Krishna Deosaran top-scored for East Coast with 26 runs while 17 came from the experienced opener Mark Moosaie. Kumar Doodnauth was also in the wicket column for the hosts with two scalps.
Meanwhile, skipper Vijay Prashad declared that they were very confident of winning the trophy again and was very thankful to the guys for making a steady contribution not only in the final encounter but over the years in the preliminary round.
“I think we played nicely as a team and we got our reward; it was a very challenging total given the fact of the other team’s bowling strength but we deserved the victory,” Prashad related.
His opposing skipper Rakesh Dyal was disappointed stating that the team tried very hard but in the end their efforts were not sufficient.
“We have a good bunch of guys; they played very well throughout the tournament but we just missed out again at the final stage; but I think we will come back next year and win the tournament,” the veteran Dyal mentioned.
President of the OSCL, Guyanese Albert Ramcharran, was on hand to witness the action and made the bowl off prior to the commencement of the game. He acknowledged the effort his other executives had put in to run off another successful tournament and also thanked the sponsors for coming on board.
“We at the OSCL will like to thank the sponsors for making the tournament a success and the players for their continued participation; we have worked very hard over the years and to keep up the high standard of softball cricket; the winning team must be congratulated,” Ramcharran remarked.
East Coast was crowned East Divisions Champions while Cricketers Cove copped the West Divisions trophy for the fourth consecutive year.
The presentation of trophies and plaques is set to be held on November 2 at a venue yet to be named and several prominent Guyanese businessmen and dignitaries are expected to be present.
