The eagerly anticipated final of the Banks DIH 15-overs Softball Tournament organized by Guyana Softball League (GSL) culminates this evening on an illuminated Banks DIH Thirst Park ground, with Regal XI of Georgetown clashing with Rangers Sports Club (RSC) of West Coast of Demerara.
Both teams are confident of victory with match winners on both sides, making tonight’s encounter a thrilling one. Regal XI who lost their first match in the preliminary round, managed to bounced back to win their remaining matches to be in this position for tonight’s game.
They possess a lot of depth in their batting with openers Zulfikar Ali and Wasim Haslim being followed by their most valuable player in the quarter and semi-final stages, Kapildeo Singh.
Support for the top order will come from a strong middle order which consists of the experienced Raymond Harper and skipper Khalid Haslim, along with Lance Adams, Rajkumar Ori and the all rounders Mahendra Arjune, who is the leading all rounder in the tournament, and Mahase Chunilall.
Regal’s bowling attack will be spearheaded by Lakeram Roopnarine who will be receiving support from Harper and Mahendra Persaud.
According to Manager Ian John, the players are eager and are working hard at the various aspects of their game in order to come out on top.
On the other side of the fence, a lot is expected by RSC’s watchful opening pair, Riaz “Dynamo” Karim and Ameer Nizamudeen who have been involved in many finals at this ground and scored a number of match-winning partnerships for Rangers.
Following the dynamic duo will be Safraz Karim and Zaheer Hanif who are clinical batsmen, along with all rounder Cristiandial Persaud who has the ability to shift a game with both the bat and ball and he will be supporting the lower order of Dudnauth Narine and Asif Saffie, followed by the bowlers Lakeram Champalall, Narine, Saffie and Persaud.
Preceding the final, the National Communications Network XI and the East Bank XI will collide in what is expected to be an entertaining third place affair with both teams confident of defeating each other.
There will be live ball-by-ball coverage on radio of the matches while NCN will give highlights of the final.
Rangers XI: Kristiandial Persaud (Captain), Reo Karim, Safraz Karim, Ameer Nizamuddeen, Sanath La Channa, Asif Saffie, Bisham Persaud, Dudnauth Narine, Lakeram Champalall, Zamal Khan, Zaheer Hanif and Mohamed Saffie.
The Regal XI: Khalid Haslim(Captain), Wasim Haslim, Zulfikar Ali, Kapil Deo, Mahendra Arjune, Anil Hardyal, Mahesh Chunilall, Raymond Harper, Rajkumari Ori, Mahendra Persaud, Lakeram Roopnarine and Ian John.
East Bank XI: Michael Persaud(Captain), Neville Persaud, Avenash Prashad, Jimmy Sahadeo, Mannichand Rai, Mukesh Chandra, Vicky Beharry, Mahendra Ramkellawan, Anand Khemraj, Bobby Chand, Mathew Persaud and Manoj Kumar(Manager)
NCN’s XI: Jaden Samuels (Captain), Shahab Khan, Rene Stoby, Ravi Persaud, Imram Kazim, Jermaine Carter, Dwayne Alonzo, Mosi Peters, Derrick Den Hard, John Ramsingh, Glen Lee, Ravendra Mandolall and Ron Robinson.
