Trinidad and Tobago Under-17s win 50-Over regional crown

THE Trinidad and Tobago Under-17s were crowned champions of the Cricket West Indies Rising Stars 50-Over Championships after a rain-affected final round match against Barbados at Inshan Ali Park in Preysal on September 2.

After five rounds of play, TT finished unbeaten with three wins and two no results. They eventually copped the 2024 title three points ahead of eventual runners-up Barbados.

In their final match against the Bajans, TT posted 159 all out from 46.4 overs, batting first. When Barbados began their chase, the heavens opened soon after and stopped play with the visitors on 28/1 after five overs.

Victory for Barbados may have awarded them the crown, but fate had it another way.

TT team manager Stephen Ramkissoon was pleased to return silverware to the Under-17 trophy cabinet and believes it’s not only a win for the young Red Force outfit, but also West Indies cricket.

“The bigger picture is the development of cricket,” Ramkissoon said.

“It feels really nice to capture the title. This is my second stint with the team. Last year, we lost the U-15 title by less than one point and fortunately, things worked in our favour this year in the U-17 division.”

TT opened their campaign with a two-run win over Windward Islands courtesy Joseph Mendoza (33), Darius Battoosingh and Renaldo Fournillier (24 runs each) with the bat, and stellar spells from Jordan Mohammed (2/18) and Aaron Basant (2/31).

Their second match against Leewards was stopped by rain with TT on 92/6 after 23 overs, and ended in a no result.

An unbeaten half century (51 not out) from Samir Saroop and fellow opener Darrius Batoosingh (35), partnered with a mesmerizing 6/22 from skipper Brendan Boodoo with the ball, steered them to a convincing eight-wicket triumph over Guyana in the third match.

TT continued their winning ways in the fourth contest as they trumped Jamaica by ten runs. This rain-affected tie saw TT finish on 112/7 after 20 overs. This made way for the Aadian Racha show as his outstanding 5/13 stifled Jamaica to 102/9 from their 20 overs.

The final match against Barbados on September 2 saw TT all out for 159, courtesy knocks from Christian Lall (46), Boodoo (30) and Batoosingh (29). Barbados looked good in reply, but could only put 28 runs on the board before the rain came.

The match ended in a no result, and with TT atop the standings and Barbados the only real contender in second, the hosts were confirmed as winners.

“The tournament was dominated by the bowlers for some reason, as it did not have the kind of high-scoring score cards you wanted to see," Ramkissoon said. "We have to analyse the reason for that, why batters weren’t scoring consistently.

“A lot of money would have been spent by the TTCB to prepare this team. The bowlers pulled us through this tournament. Aadian came on with the ball pretty well. With the rain we didn’t always get the pitches to suit batting too much. He had a brilliant spell of five wickets on Sunday and then today, he didn’t get much opportunity to bowl.”

Ramkissoon said there were spurts of brilliance from individual players throughout the competition and victory was a team effort.

Despite losing key players Fareez Ali and wicketkeeper Fareez Khan early on because of injury, their replacements did well to fill the void.

“Christiano Ramanan, the reserve wicketkeeper, looked pretty sharp with gloves. I was impressed with his glove work. The replacement players got an avenue to express themselves. We go back to the drawing board, analyse the season and we go from there.

“The win is a motivator for the upcoming youngsters. Now there’s additional tournaments that help us get more opportunity to play more cricket. It augurs well for the future,” he said.

Scores:

At Gilbert Park: Windward Islands vs Jamaica - Abandoned.

At Inshan Ali Park: TT 159 (46.4 overs) (Christian Lall 46, Brendan Boodoo 30, Darrius Batoosingh 29; Zachary Carter 4/20) vs BARBADOS 29/1 (5 overs) (Damarko Wiggins 20). No result.

At the National Cricket Centre: GUYANA 171 (40.5 overs) (Vikash Wilkinson 34, Rampersaud Ramnauth 31, Romario Ramdeholl 23; Isra-el Morton 3/34, Jaheem Clarke 2/20, Micah McKenzie 2/24) vs LEEWARD ISLANDS 35/1 (8 overs) (Tanez Francis 17 not out). No result.