After two days of grueling softball cricket action, the 2022 edition of the Florida Cup heads to championship Saturday when three champions will be crowned. Among the teams competing in the finals today in the Brian Piccolo Park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida are the unbeaten Regal Legends and Regal Masters.
On Friday, all-rounder Ramesh Narine played magnificently to lead Regal Legends past Orlando Legends in their final preliminary round match in the morning then disposed of Marine Masters in the semi-finals in the afternoon. Regal Legends will now meet Toronto Blizzards in the final that will be contested on Saturday at the same venue.
In the semi-final, Regal opted to bowl against Marine Legends in humid conditions on a small field with a good batting strip. After 18.5 of their allotted 20 overs, Marine Legends were bundled out for 89.
Only Shazam Mohamed with (23), Ramkumar Seenarine (20) and Onkar Singh (13) got into double figures as they were mesmerized by Ramesh Narine and Laurie Singh.
Right-arm leg-spinner Narine bagged 3/19 from 3.5 overs while left-arm spinner Singh finished with 3/20 from his four overs. Pacer Parsram Persaud supported with 2/18 and Eric Thomas 1/14 with his right arm medium fast bowling.
In reply, the Guyana-based Regal Legends raced to 91 for 1 for the 9-wicket victory in just 6 overs. Narine blasted 54 runs in boundaries (6×4’s; 5×6’s) to finish on 57 not out from 18 deliveries with just three singles. Alongside opener, Unis Yusuf (24 not out; 5×4’s) Narine added 87 runs for the second wicket after the fall of other opener Mahendra Hardyal for 3 at 4 for 1.
Regal Legends will now meet Toronto Blizzards in the first final of the day followed by Regal Masters against SVC Corriverton then King’s Men All-Star side will take on South Florida All-Stars in the Open final.
In the Regal Masters semi-final against Canada Softball Cricket Masters, Samuel Kingston hit a match winning 106 to steer his side to a comfortable 48-run victory and on to the final.Earlier, Mike’s Wellman playing their third preliminary round match and first match without team owner Lakeram ‘Mike’ Singh lost to Toronto Blizzards to end their campaign in the tournament.
It is the first Florida Cup since 2019 due to the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic.