The highly anticipated Open final of the Georgetown Softball Cricket League Inc.’s Prime Minister’s T20 Cup between Regal All-Stars and SVC Grill Masters was abandoned following bad light at the Everest Cricket Club on Sunday but the organisers are yet to come to a decision on naming the teams joint champions or replaying the match.
In the presence of hundreds of cricket lovers including acting Prime Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, the initial plan was to have the final played under lights and bowl off from 18.00 hours. However, early morning showers forced the first of four matches to begin an hour late, which intruded into the final match.
The exhibition 12-over per side female contest had also been abandoned with both teams sharing the spoils in order to facilitate the main event.
But that did not do much good with the final bowling off at around 20.30 hours due to the lights being unable to illuminate the venue. A lot was experimented with to make the situation work including rearranging the lights and even bringing in the boundary. Both teams then arrived at a gentleman’s agreement to play the contest in the given conditions.
However, at around 21.00 hours and after just seven overs, two lights went out forcing the umpires to abandon the contest with Grill Masters cruising at 67 without loss compliments of Balram Samaroo and David Looknauth who were at the crease. According to a source close to the organisers, the playing conditions stipulated a shared title in the event of an abandonment. This would have seen each team walking away with $300,000 cash.
The source further indicated that the offer was put forward to have the match replayed on Sunday as an alternative to declaring the teams joint champions.
