Regal XI dethrone Wolf’s Warriors

By: Melinda Bishundyal

Regal XI evicted the mighty Wolf’s Warriors from their throne when they thrashed them by six wickets in the final of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company’s 10/ 10 Softball Competition at the National Stadium last Saturday night.

In a jubilant atmosphere in the presence of about 8000 spectators, Regal XI frustrated the Wolf’s Warriors batsmen with some tight bowling and clean fielding.

The first wicket fell off the fifth ball with the score on four and the second in the third over. To add to the Warriors woes, all the fielders were on the boundary so the big shots were scarce.

Warriors did not manage to put any substantial partnership together and when their captain Amreith Rai was out in the seventh over for 28 the Warriors fans did not hesitate to express their disappointment as he was the only batsman who was scoring freely. Warriors 50th run was reached in the eight over. They reached 77- 6 when their overs expired.

When Regal XI started their innings Zulfikar Alli was dropped off the first delivery.

Warriors managed to keep it tight but the target was too little to scare the players from Regal; they were always in control.

Wolf’s Warriors fielding was exceptional early on and the first wicket came off a spectacular catch by Azad Azeez at long-on.

At the strategic time out after five overs, Regal were on 34-2, three runs behind Warriors at the same stage. But after the resumption, Regal’s Chien Gittens (25) and Ayume Mohamed (28) accelerated and found themselves needing just 12 in the last two overs.

However, Gittens was out in the ninth over; Gittens and Mohammed added 50 for the third wicket.

With Regal needing just three runs to win in the final over, many thought it was a walk in the park, but it turned out to be filled with drama. The first ball was a dot which was followed by a wicket. Then there was a run out off the third ball, and instead of gathering the ball, the Wolf’s Warriors were busy celebrating and the batsmen ran three byes to win the game.

Earlier in the evening, captain June Ogle-Thomas led Trophy Stall Angels to an 18-run victory over 4R Lioness. Batting first, the Angels compiled a competitive 87- 3 with Ogle-Thomas finishing on 49 not out of 33 balls; her innings included three fours. She faced the first and final deliveries and had a second wicket partnership of 33 with Kavita Yadram (15) and a third wicket stance of 44 with Monica Seales (14).

In the Lioness’ reply, they never got going as the Angels bowled wicket-to-wicket and fielded aggressively.

Rokmini Persaud was on a hat-trick in the sixth over but it did not materialise.

4R Lioness 50th run was reached in the seventh over and the scoring rate continued to drop.

They needed 22 off the last over but they only managed three, ending on 69-5.

June Ogle-Thomas was judged the Player-of-the-Match.