Countryside softball team lost to Avengers in a last ball thriller as the inaugural 592 Beer and I-Cool Water nationwide 10-over softball competition got underway at the Guyana National Industrial Corporation (GNIC) Sports Club Ground, Woolford Avenue last Sunday.
Needing three runs to win from the final delivery of the match and with Sewchand Budhu well set on 91, Countryside was left to rue what might have been after Budhu was caught on the boundary going for the winning runs.
Earlier, Avengers batting scored 114- 7 from their allotted 10 overs. Marvin Bobb, 31 and Chris Samwaru, 22, were the principal scorers.
Y. Mangal bagged 3/10 from two overs. Countryside, in reply, were all out for 112 all out from 10 overs. Troy Forde took 3/22 and Anand Persaud 2/20.
In other results: LBI All Stars 87 for 5 (Trevor Payne 28; Rajin Singh 3/19, Tyron Mohan 2/22) beat Success Youths 83 for 8 (Michael Jaikaran 29; Naresh Singh 3/18, Vickey Bhudram 3/23) by 4 runs.
Speed Boat 129 for 5 (Greg Singh 37, Lennox Mark 28, W. Sundar 25; Taleshwar Ramoutar 4/10) beat Lowland All Stars 55 All Out (Vishal Surujpaul 25; Greg Singh2/12, Wazir Hussain 2/10) by 69 runs.
East Coast All Stars 84 for 1 (5.3) (Suraj Boodhoo 44; Arzal Pritepaul 1/18) beat LBI All Stars 79 All Out (Trevor Payne 28, Javid Alli 18; Khemchan Persaud 4/4, Puran John 3/4) by 9 wickets.
The competition continues today with Speed Boat vs LBI All Stars and Avengers vs Lowland All Stars at 9am, Countryside vs Success Youths and Success XI vs Lowland All Stars at 11am and Success XI vs Success Youths at 2pm.
The tournament organiser is Samuel Kingston of the Demerara Softball Cricket Association and is sponsored by Ansa McAl for teams across the country in the All Star and Over-40-year-old categories. The tournament uses special small supreme balls that are only available at Trophy Stall in the Bourda Market or at the venues on match days. Teams will play in a round robin format before the top teams advance to the semifinals.
Trophies and cash incentives are at stake.
