National League cricket begins, champs Central Sports face Prisons

THE 2025 Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board National League premier one tournament bowls off at five venues on February 1.

Defending champions Central Sports begin their campaign against promoted Prisons Sports at Invaders Recreation Ground in Felicity while last year’s runners-up Bess Motors Marchin Patriots host another new team, Yorkshire, at home in Charlieville.

Queen’s Park Cricket Club (QPCC) host Diego Martin-based Merry Boys at the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair while Victoria United travel to Penal to take on Clarke Road United.

This year, the two lowest league finishers will not be relegated to the championship division and the top two championship teams will not be promoted to the top tier.

Additionally, each team can field only one foreign player for each matchday. Teams can still have two foreign players in the squad, but they can only be used at the same time for the 50-over and T20 tournaments.

Marchin Patriots director Adrian Ali said the club will use this season to blood younger talent into their senior team.

Last year, Patriots won the Sunday League 50-over competition while Central Sports copped the league and T20 Festival titles.

Ali said, “We will be looking to go all the way this year and capture the title. Our aim is to try to win all three titles this year.

“We plan to give youngsters like Fareez Ali, Luke Ali and Rajeev Ramnath, who would have played youth cricket for TT, an opportunity and use this year to help them build on their career, and for those who are accustomed, they can start performing well at this level and push on well to the senior team.”