Register 1500 teams and we’ll take it to the next level – Mahadeo

Apr 12, 2011 Sports

West Demerara juggernauts Wolf Warriors seen in celebratory mood shortly after defeating Berbice's Celebrity Times at the National Stadium.

– Wolf Warriors, Berbice All Stars crowned champions

By Rawle Welch

With a further promise to double the prize monies should the Organising Committee manage to increase the teams to 1500 next year, GT&T’s CEO Yog Mahadeo is adamant that though this year’s 10/10 Softball Cricket Competition was an overwhelming success, there is room for it to become bigger and even accommodate teams from overseas.
Mahadeo, speaking at the National Stadium during the presentation ceremony that followed the conclusion of the biggest ever staged Softball Cricket Competition locally, admitted that he had thrown out a challenge at the last tournament to the Committee to increase the teams and he would double the prize monies.
“I’m throwing out another challenge here tonight that should the level of participation increase further I’m promising to take the next edition to the next level,” Mahadeo said.
The CEO while congratulating the winners and all the teams that participated in the countrywide competition noted that it was the subscribers who had made the tournament a huge success and extended his gratitude to every one of them.
Also coming in for commendation were all members of the Organising Committee, who Mahadeo stated had worked tirelessly to bring off a magnificent event which culminated with a sizzling performance from the top local and regional musical artistes.
Meanwhile in on-field action, West Demerara’s Wolf Warriors definitely the most consistent team in the competition cruised to an easy eight wickets triumph against Berbice’s Celebrity Times in the men’s final, while the Ancient County gained sweet revenge when Berbice All Stars beat Lusignan Street Warriors by nine runs in a gripping final.
For their win, Warriors received $2million, while All Stars took away $1million.
Earlier, in men’s semi-finals action, Wolf Warriors defeated Regal XI by seven wickets, while Celebrity Times disposed of Universal Solutions Tigers by 15 runs.

The victorious Berbice All Stars team seen doing a lap of honour for the fans following their win over Lusignan Street Warriors.

In the men’s final, another solid batting display from Amit Jairam pushed the Warriors to a comfortable victory over Celebrity Times of Berbice and the 2011 Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) nationwide 10/10 softball title.
Jairam whose unbeaten 55 had earned him the man of the match award in his team’s semi final win over Regal XI earlier in the day, sealed the win with an exquisite drive through extra cover for a boundary to remain unbeaten on 38 which contained four magnificent maximums, one of which was a memorable switch hit that sailed over the ropes and two fours. At the crease with him was Mohamed Riaz Karim on 20.
They reached 88-2 from seven overs replying to Celebrity Times’ 87-8 that saw Balram Samaroo top scoring with 39 (3×6, 1×4) and Farouk Hussain made 17.
Dhanraj Champalall and Davanand Persaud took two wickets each for 9 and 11 runs respectively for Wolf Warriors. Jairam picked up his second man of the match award for the day.
In the male semi finals, Celebrity Times beat UST by 15 runs, while Wolf Warriors warmed up for their final assault with a seven-wicket win over Regal XI.
In the women’s final, Berbice All Stars bated first and compiled 98-4 off the allotted overs with West Indies all rounder Shemaine Campbell, who was later declared the player of the match slamming an undefeated 46.
At one stage, they had clobbered 63 off the opening four overs.Berbice All Stars then restricted Lusignan Street Warriors (LSW) to 86-8 when the overs expired.
Skipper Dawn Nicholls led the way with 33, while Melissa Cummings who was reprieved four times due to poor fielding supported with 19.
Earlier in the day, LSW defeated the highly favoured Trophy Stall Angels by 19 runs and Berbice All Stars dispatched Mike’s Wellwoman by seven wickets.
Both losing finalists received $500,000 and $250,000 respectively with trophies, while Regal XI’s Azad Azeez and Buxton All Stars’ Ruth George were rewarded for their highest individual scores in the tournament.
Azeez scored an unbeaten 142, while George made an unbeaten 140. The best bowling figures of the tournament was recorded by Krishnanand Ramgobin, who took 5-2 in the male category and Campbell 4-7 in the female category, while many other individual prizes were distributed throughout the competition.
Apart from GT&T, this year’s tournament was sponsored by King’s Jewellery World, Buddy’s Night Club, Cellphone Shack, Auto Fashions, Coca Cola, Vitamalt and Tropical Mist through Banks DIH Limited and the National Communications Network (NCN) who did a live broadcast of the finals.
This year’s tournament saw 1224 teams participate.