There is another reason for softball cricket fans to get excited as the inaugural Speaker’s Softball Cup is set to bowl off on April 29 at various venues in Georgetown.
The three-day extravaganza is organised by the executives of the Everest Cricket Club (ECC) and promises to be full of excitement for players and spectators.
Patron of the tournament and Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir was present at the re-launch ceremony recently in the members’ pavillion of ECC and said the time is right for the tournament.
“We were preparing to play in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions prevented us from doing so, but as a club we used the opportunity to improve the facility then in 2022 the issue was rain but we are now in a strong position to announce definitively that Speaker’s Cup is on.”
At the re-launch, as the event was dubbed, John Ramsingh on behalf of the organising committee gave an overview of the tournament, noting that there will be two categories for competition- Legends and Masters.
The Legends category is for players 50 years of age and older, while the Masters category is for players 40 years of age and older. There will be eight teams in each category while there will be two zones within each category for round-robin action before the semi-finals.
Ramsingh also indicated that apart from Everest CC ground, matches will also be played at the Queen’s College school grounds and Police Sports Club ground at Eve Leary, making it easy for management.
The preliminary rounds will be on April 29 and 30, while the semi-finals will be on the second afternoon. The finals will be played at ECC on Labour Day with live streaming of both matches on FL Sport.
The winning teams will take away towering trophies and G$250,000 cash, while the losing finalists will pocket G$100,000 cash. Additionally, there are individual prizes for Most Valuable Player in each category and Player-of-the-Match in the respective finals.
All trophies for Speaker’s Softball Cup are compliments of Trophy Stall who are delighted to be part of the historic tournament as was stated by representative Saleema Hussain.
At the initial launch, there were two tournaments including the traditional hard-ball format which Speaker Nadir shed some light on.
“In 2021, there were sponsors, donors and teams that expressed their interest in the tournaments who have all stayed on two years later, thank you for your patience and commitment. We will shortly announce the commencement of the Speaker’s Hardball tournament which will be in two zones; Berbice and Georgetown. We are going to run off that format very soon,” Nadir, who is also President of ECC, said.
Within the coming days the fixtures will be drawn and announced for the softball tournament which will see teams from across the country taking the field on April 29. This tournament may become a staple on the softball calendar alongside the popular and lucrative Prime Minister’s T20 Softball Cup, which is played annually in November. (John Ramsingh)
