South East crowned Scotiabank U-15 cricket champs as rain intervenes

South East were crowned champions of the 2022 Scotiabank NextGen Under-15 Cricket Programme on Friday as persistent rainfall forced the title match against Central to be abandoned at the National Cricket Centre in Couva.

The Brendan Boodoo-captained South East players were declared victors owing to their unbeaten run in the tournament.

In Friday’s trophy match, South East were sent in to bat, but were interrupted by rain six times. They reached 152/8 after 32 overs before the final interruption.

Justin Hamid and Zane Maraj top scored with 29 each while Aadi Ramsaran (4/35) and Dimitri Ramjattan (3/31) did well to restrict South East.

The final shower, which fell until after 4pm, compelled match officials to call off the match since the minimum of 20 overs, which constitutes a match, could not have been completed within the remaining time.

This meant the tournament winner would be chosen from the overall points standings. South East went unbeaten in the group stage while Central’s only loss came in their opening match against South East.

After the anti-climactic victory, South East coach Angard Ramdaya was pleased his team came out on top. Although he lamented the rain-affected final, Ramdaya was pleased the youngsters got an opportunity to return to domestic competition after a two-year hiatus.

“We’re happy for the tournament but the players were somewhat under prepared because of covid19. They would have been injury-prone at times. Some of them sustained some small injuries at the beginning of the tourney.

“But all in all, they performed exceptionally well. They came to the front line and did what they had to do to reap the benefits of their hard work. We were hoping to finish the tournament unbeaten but the rain had other plans,” he said.

Ramdaya hailed the team’s all-round efforts but highlighted the performances of skipper and all-rounder Boodoo, Maraj with the bat, and Ganesh Gobin and Scyon Charles with the ball.

Among the notable performances were Boodoo's century in the semi-finals; Maraj's half-century in the preliminary stage; Gobin finishing as the team’s best bowler; and Charles' good bowling economy.

“Everyone showed their strengths throughout the tournament and it paid off in the end,” Ramdaya said.