Newsday Star of the Week:Gomez shines again as Shiva Boys lift title

NEWSDAY continues to cover the performances in the PowerGen Secondary Schools Cricket League (SSCL) 50-over premiership division. Each week a player will be selected as Newsday’s star of the week and profiled.

For the second consecutive week, Isaiah Gomez has been selected as this week’s star. After cracking an unbeaten 100 last week, in round six, Gomez showed his quality with the ball. He took 7/20 with his left-arm spin to help Shiva Boys Hindu College to the title with a last round victory over Hillview College, on Tuesday. Shiva Boys posted 191 all out, before restricting Hillview to 109 all out to win by 82 runs at PowerGen Ground in Penal.

The spell by Gomez included a hat-trick. The spinner bowled two of the batsmen and a leg before decision went his way to complete the hat-trick. It is the first time Shiva Boys have won the premiership title.

Newsday spoke to Gomez about his seven-wicket haul.

Q How does it feel to be called premiership champions?

A Well it’s great to be the champions, at last. That means all our hard work paid off before the season. We started training in November two days a week.

Describe the feeling when you got the hat-trick, how did you celebrate?

It was great because the game was kind of slipping away from us. Nothing much, just celebrate with my team-mates.

What kind of delivery did you bowl for the hat-trick ball?

My favourite delivery – my arm ball.

Did you think Shiva Boys made enough runs?

Yes because with our bowling we can defend any total.

Was scoring the century last week or taking seven wickets more special and why?

Well both was special to me because both performances helped the team win.

What did the coach/manager tell the team after winning the title?

That one part of our job is finish and the Intercol is the other.

How dangerous can Shiva Boys be in the Intercol T20 that starts next week?

Very dangerous because we are strong in the batting and bowling. We have experienced players at the top of the order and we have power hitting with Damion Joachim and myself. We have plenty good spinners that we could choose from and one pacer.

What does Shiva Boys have to improve in the Intercol T20?

We maybe need to improve on rotating the strike more, that’s it.