GT 20 Canada: Sherfane Rutherford captures hearts of Canadians, Brampton Shines as a host

Some are blessed to hawk headlines. They do a little more and better than others to stand out. And Sherfane Rutherford, hero of the just concluded GT20 Canada, is one of them. He not only single-handedly carried his team Montreal Tigers to title triumph with his determination and aggressive batting but also ended with three glittering awards, including the Dean Jones Man of the Series title, for his excellent performances.

Sherfane has been in a habit of scoring hat tricks. His hat trick of sixes in the semi-finals and helping his team to a hat trick of wins in the last three games make him a perfect hat trick man.

Representing Montreal Tigers, he along with his fellow Jamaican allrounder Andrea Russell had set the TD Arena stands in Brampton ablaze with some marvellous hits to the maximum to turn the hopeless situation not only to hope but to glory for his team. His innings would be long remembered by Bramptonians who relished a great feast of cricket, especially during the qualifiers and the finals.

If Bramptonians will look forward to the return of the GT 20 Canada next year, it will be primarily to see their heroes – Sherfane Rutherford, Andrea Russell, Chris Lynne, Corbin Bosch, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Ayaan Khan, Colin Munro, Mathew Forde, Junnaid Siddique – and a few more. They all played their hearts out to emerge new cricketing icons of their Canadian fans.

Though rain and weather may have played a spoilsport in some of the games, the quality of cricket exhibited by some of the award winners of this 17-day mega event overshadowed all the aberrations and flaws that at times tried to take away the sheen and glory of this return of big cricket to Canada after a hiatus of three years.

Everyone would fondly remember the games that featured some of the stars from the galaxy of world cricket. They came all the way from countries like West Indies, Australia, South Africa, Oman, Pakistan, and others to help Canada build its base in a sport that remains a top attraction in the nations that were once part of the Commonwealth.

The second semi-final and final of the tournament would go down in the annals of the game as “last-ball thrillers”. These games got engraved on the minds of followers of this bat and ball conflict as “ evergreen, exciting and captivating.”

The success of this event, says Mr. Vidiyut Rana, promoter of Brampton Wolves, makes us determined to hold the next event in 2024 in a grand manner by making sure that some of the discrepancies witnessed this time are taken care of and everyone enjoys this thrilling game. The organizers would review the tournament and involve all stakeholders while planning the next event, he added.

Most of the overseas cricketing guests have gone back highly impressed seeing a great future for Canadian cricket, said Mr. Vidiyut Rana promising that more cricketing stars, especially from India, would be representing Brampton Wolves next year.

The Mayor of Brampton, Mr. Patrick Brown, has reiterated his commitment to make Brampton the cricket capital of Canada. He held that all points suggested for improving the conduct of the tournament and local populations’ participation would be given their deserving attention. Next time, he says, it will be a big grand show.

Montreal Tigers captured the championship of season 3 on the final ball of the match when West Indies star Andre Russell smashed a six onto the roof of the packed stands to give the Tigers a score of 135-5 to Surrey’s 130-5, sending the capacity crowd of 5,200 into a frenzy.

In pulling off a second-straight last-over victory in the playoffs in as many days, Montreal earned CAD$300,000 for its championship title, while Surrey took the runner-up prize of $150,000.

Rutherford, 24, was a key contributor to the Tigers’ championship run helping drive Montreal’s potent batting attack alongside Russell and run leader Chris Lynn. For his stellar and consistent performance throughout the tournament, Rutherford received the Dean Jones Man of the Series honor, along with its prized half-acre plot of real estate in a luxury residential community in central Florida – a prize unique in North American professional sport.

The young West Indies player also earned Man of the Match, Moment of the Match and Gatorade Flip Challenge Winner honors, which came with total prize money of $2,500.

Allrounder Harsh Thaker, 25, who won Man of the Match honors twice during the tournament, received the Emerging Canadian award and $2,500.

Global T20 Canada Awards

• Sherfane Rutherford, Montreal Tigers – Dean Jones Man of the Series(Half-acre plot of real estate in Florida)

• Sherfane Rutherford, Montreal Tigers – Man of the Match($1,000)

• Sherfane Rutherford, Montreal Tigers – Moment of the Match($500)

• Harsh Thaker, Vancouver Knights – Emerging Canadian($2,500)

• Chris Lynn, Montreal Tigers – Most Runs (234) ($2,500)

• Matthew Forde, Surrey Jaguars – Most Wickets(15) ($2,500)

  ·  Sherfane Rutherford, Montreal Tigers, Gatorade Flip Challenge Winner ($1,000)

Vancouver Knights won the Global T20 Canada championship in the league’s inaugural season in 2018 with the Winnipeg Hawks capturing the championship in 2019.

Sanctioned by the International Cricket Council, the world governing body of cricket, Global T20 Canada consists of six city-based franchises – Toronto Nationals, Montreal Tigers, Vancouver Knights and Brampton Wolves, Mississauga Panthers and Surrey Jaguars – playing in a centralized venue.

The franchises feature a mix of international stars from cricket hotbeds – India, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, the Caribbean, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh – as well as top homegrown talent playing for the Canadian men’s national team.

Prabhjot Singh