Fatima glad to have 'another crack at Pres San Fernando'

FATIMA College lock horns with Presentation College San Fernando in next Friday’s PowerGen Secondary Schools Intercol T20 final at Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba, from 6pm.

The north-based team got past their central rivals Presentation College Chaguanas by 53 runs in the second semi-final on Tuesday.

Fatima’s victory came courtesy of an unbeaten captain’s knock of 56 not out from skipper Joshua Davis, another half-century from Aditya Ramdeen (54) and a valiant, undefeated 44 not out from vice-captain Zachary Siewah.

Batting first, the trio propelled Fatima to 171/2 from 20 overs. In reply, tight spells from Fatima’s right-arm medium pacers Ramdeen (2/16) and Siewah (2/26) restricted "Pres" Chaguanas to 118/6.

Top scoring for Presentation was Luke Ali (26) and Saleem Khan (23).

Tuesday’s win set up another anticipated meeting between this year’s inaugural Secondary Schools’ Cricket League winner Presentation San Fernando and Fatima, who placed third in the league.

On his team’s crucial semi-final win, Fatima coach Miguel Paty was pleased to come up trumps this time around.

“Pres Chaguanas and Fatima are rivals teams from as far back from since secondary schools cricket began and we just got the better of them this time. So it’s always an intense game between us. It’s a rivalry but always in good spirits,” he said.

Fatima have not won the T20 Intercol since 2015 and are hungry to lift the crown once again. "Pres", on the other hand, were recently crowned maiden SSCL champions and are intent on making school and tournament history on their quest to a domestic double.

On Monday, ‘Pres’ defeated former champions Hillview College by five runs in the first semi-final.

“We’re happy to get another crack at Pres San Fernando. The boys are really looking forward to it and are very pumped up. It should be a very good final. Two of the better teams playing so it should make for an exciting one. The boys have been training well and are motivated.

“We had a serious hiccup in the league. We were going head to head with Pres Sando all the time and then we had a couple injuries and illness leading into their game coming out of carnival. So we weren’t at full strength for a few weeks and that hampered us a bit.

“Not taking anything away from Pres Sando. But we’re back up to full strength and this has motivated them.”

Having eliminated league runners-up Pres Chaguanas on Tuesday, Paty said the title match is building up to be a clash of this year’s schools’ cricket titans.

In the end, he believes good cricket will prevail.

“It would mean a lot for us to win the title. We’ve been trying to train a lot but there’s been a lot of rain. The boys just have to go out there and do their part and do what they do best and I expect good results at the end. The public will get the best of both schools in the final.”

Fatima College Cricket Team

Joshua Davis (captain), Zachary Siewah (vice-captain), Isaiah Fernandes, Niall Maingot, Ajani Gomez, Nikhil Lakhan, William Caudle, Aditya Ramdeen, Adrian Mahase, Cristiano Phillip, Kalel Alonzo, Joshua Luke, Maleek Lewis, Caiden Mack, Varun Atwaroo, Asanee Edwards, Varisht Ramdeen, Javed Clarke, Miguel Paty (coach), Stephen Williams (manager), Dwayne Davis (physio/assistant coach), Dwayne Bourne (assistant coach), Allison Poon (chaperone)