Central, North clash in Under-17 cricket final

CENTRAL Zone will meet North in the final of the TT Cricket Board’s Under-17 Inter Zone Tournament from 9.30 am at the National Cricket Centre (NCC) in Balmain, Couva, today.

It will be a clash of two teams which have played unbeaten in the tournament so far and will also be the second straight Inter Zone final appearance for Central which last month copped the Under-15 crown.

In last week’s rain-affected semi-finals, North Zone continued their impressive run with a three-wicket victory over South, while Central qualified for the final ahead of East Zone by virtue of emerging winners of their group in the three-match preliminary phase after their match was rained out at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba.

At the NCC Ground, the match was reduced from 50 to 30 overs and batting first, South made 165 for seven wickets to which North replied with 169 for the loss of a similar number of wickets with one over to spare.

For South, Tariq Mohammed was again among the runs hitting a run-a-ball innings of 60 with Darren Samlal (28) lending valuable support along with Kristian Bernard (15 not out) and opener Venush Narine (13).

The North bowlers were again in fine form with allrounder Chadeon Raymond and Aidan Samaroo both claiming two wickets for 28 runs in six overs, while Matthew Gittens grabbed two for 39 in five.

In reply, North Zone marched to victory in clinical fashion reaching their target with six balls remaining as openers Jeremiah Cruickshank (36) and Nicholas Elliot (33) set the foundation with Chadeon Raymond (34) making the decision a foregone conclusion.

South Zone however gave a spirited bowling performance with Ashton Harracksingh (2/48) and Kendall Poonchoon (1/7) sending back the first three North Zone batsmen within the space of three runs with the total on 77, but it was not enough to deny their opponents a well-deserved win in the end.