Goolie wants South to break title drought in 2025 North South Classic

SOUTH captain Jyd Goolie is hopeful his squad can break their two-year losing streak when day one of the Namalco Construction Services Ltd North South Classic bowls off at Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba on January 9 from 2pm.

The four-day matches serve as the final benchmark for players chasing selection to the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force team for this year’s West Indies Championship, which bowls off on January 29.

Leg-spinner Khary Pierre leads the north squad into battle against their southern rivals.

At the launch on January 6, Goolie, in his maiden role as south skipper, said, “It is a tremendous feeling to captain this south team. The last two years the trophy didn’t come to our side. This year, hopefully, we can go out there and change that and bring back the title to south.”

Goolie wants a competitive game, one which will feature the pink ball and will pose a welcomed challenge to the players on both teams.

For 2025, selectors included several youngsters to the north and south teams, as their way of ushering in the next generation of players.

The likes of emerging talents such as Sameer Ali, Justyn Gangoo, Aadian Racha, Fareez Ali, Andrew Rambaran, Joshua James, Abdul-Raheem Toppin, Joshua Davis and Antonio Gomez join several regulars like Jason Mohammed, Tion Webster, Mark Deyal, Kamil Pooran and Isaiah Rajah among others.

Former Red Force captain and fast bowler Rayad Emrit (coach), Frank Simmons (manager), Lendl Simmons (mentor) make up North’s technical staff while Imran Khan (coach), Rajendra Mangalie (manager) and Denesh Ramdin (mentor) lead the south troops.

Red Force have not won the West Indies Championship in over 15 years.

North South Classic Teams

North – Khary Pierre (captain), Tion Webster, Vikash Mohan, Isaiah Rajah, Dejourn Charles, Andrew Rambaran, Joshua James, Antonio Gomez, Mikkel Govia, Abdul-Raheem Toppin, Dexter Sween, Philton Williams, Jordan Warner, Joshua Davis

South – Jyd Goolie (captain), Cephas Cooper, Mbeki Joseph, Shatrughan Rambaran, Jason Mohammed, Mark Deyal, Daniel Williams, Kamil Pooran, Fareez Ali, Aadian Racha, Justin Manick, Crystian Thurton, Justyn Gangoo, Sameer Ali