Defending softball champions Memorex defeated opponents Universal DVD Titans by nine runs in a thrilling encounter in the second Georgetown Softball Cricket League Inc. 12/12 tournament played at the Everest Cricket Club ground on Sunday.
Other winners in Group B included Speed Boat, Recharge and Better Hope.
The feature match between Universal DVD Titans and Memorex attracted the attention of the spectators who turned up at the venue to witness the exciting encounter.
Universal DVD Titans won the toss and chose to field, restricting the defending champions to 92 for 8 from their 12 overs.
Alvin Ramdass 31 struck three sixes while Roy Jaffarally chipped in with 27 and West Indies Under-19 selectee Shimron Hetmyer 15.
Mahendra Baldeo 2 for 7 was the pick of Universal DVD Titans bowling.
In reply the Titans struggled in their chase and were bowled out for 84 from 11.4 overs. Chandrashaker Arjune (21) and David Lukenauth (17) provided resistance for their team.
Vikendar Mohammed, Keon Sinclair and Vishal Phillips each claimed two wickets for 10, 16 and 27 runs respectively, as their team advanced to this weekend’s quarter-finals.
Earlier in the day, Titans reduced R1 to 92 for 8 in their first match. Khalim Baksh 22 and Brian Mangar 20 led the batting while Rajendra Sookdeo claimed 3 for 19, Lukenauth 2 for 16 and Totaram Seenanand 2 for 17.
Lukenauth then returned to hit an unbeaten 56 from 23 deliveries, decorated with six sixes and three fours and together with Rajiv Ivan’s 20, the two steered the Titans to 94 for 3 from 7.4 overs.
In their second game of the day, R1 played Memorex, chalking up 128 for 6 from their 12 overs, thanks to Baksh who made 35 smacking three fours and three sixes. He was supported by Gavendra Sharma who added 19. John Percy snared 3 for 42 for Memorex, who in reply scored 134 for 1 from 8.1 overs with Alvin Ramdass hitting an unbeaten 66 (7×6, 3×4), Hetmyer 37 (5×6, 1×4) and Jaffarally 32 (4×6, 1×4).
In Group B, Speed Boat lost by seven wickets when the battled Better Hope.
Managing 128 for 7 from their allotted overs, Speed Boat’s Wazir Hussain 48 and Greg Singh 27 led the batting. Wayne Narine took 3 for 18 and Ajay Singh 2 for 27 for Better Hope.
In reply, Better Hope scored 129 for 3 from 11 overs thanks to Chris Deonarine’s 35, Sunil Seeraj 30 and Sachin Singh’s unbeaten 23. Peter Alleyne took 2 for 26 for Speed Boat.
Speed Boat defeated Recharge by nine runs. Recharge made 92 from 11 overs, to which Speed Boat replied with 95 for 1 from 5.1 overs.
At the opening of the tournament last Saturday, Director of sport Neil Kumar challenged the GSCL to host a tri-nation softball series involving Guyana, United States of America and Canada next year.
The winning team is set to take home $600,000 and a trophy, leaving the runner up to settle for $200,000 and a trophy. There is also a three piece suite up for grabs for the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
