Batchu (100) pilots East to U-13 Shell win

VERAN BATCHU scored an even hundred to propel East Zone to a comfortable four-wicket victory over North East in the opening round of the Shell sponsored Under-13 cricket tournament which bowled off last week.

On the back of Batchu’s excellent innings, East successfully chased North East’s 203 all out in 33.1 overs, reaching 204 for the loss of six wickets in just 28 overs.

Earlier, Vince Kistow agonizingly fell five runs short of a well-deserved century to take North East to their challenging total as he dominated the East bowlers, with only Ishmael Ali providing any support, finishing with 17.

For East, Yasir Dean and Samin Saroop grabbed three wickets apiece and Andrew Rambaran took two.

Like Kistow when North East batted, Batchu took the lead for East Zone with only Abdul R Toppin adding some measure of support with 23 runs.

Also, in winners’ row in the first round of competition were defending champions Central Zone who beat North by four wickets, in a low-scoring contest. North, batting first, were bundled out for a paltry 59 in 23.1 overs with Central bowlers Adam Furlonge, Luke Ali and Ubaiullah Abdoel grabbing two wickets apiece.

In reply, Central raced to their victory target in only 12.3 overs.

In the other two matches, Tobago made an auspicious start to their campaign with a healthy 38-run win over South, and South East beat South West by six wickets in a high-scoring affair.

Alex Gopaul hit 70 – the second highest score of the first round – as South East cantered to 208 for four wickets in 39.2 overs, in overhauling South West’s 207 all out in 37.2 overs.