'Saints' march over Preysal and into Intercol T20 quarters

A 190-run opening partnership between Ryan Yearwood and Jesse Sookwah helped set up a comfortable 142-run victory for St Mary's College over Preysal Secondary in the PowerGen Secondary Schools Cricket League Intercol T20 round of 16 match on March 27.

Yearwood and Sookwah combined to steer the "Saints" to 198/2 in 20 overs batting first, at the Queen's Park Oval, St Clair.

The Preysal bowlers were up against it heading into the match. St Mary's finished second in the 50-over premier division competition earlier this season, while Preysal featured in the championship (second) south division.

Yearwood and Sookwah found the boundaries often, combining to hit 17 fours and six sixes. Yearwood fell in the penultimate over for 93 off 61 balls and Sookwah was dismissed in the final over for 88 off 54 deliveries.

Despite all the runs being scored by the St Mary's batsmen, Preysal captain Sanjay Naidoo ended with solid figures of 1/17 in four overs.

It was a struggle for Preysal when it was their turn to bat as only number nine batsman Shiva Seejattan got into double figures with 14. Nathan Sancho was unplayable as he grabbed 4/6 in 3.1 overs. Samir Boodoo was also a handful, picking up 2/0 in his two overs.

In the first match of the doubleheader played at the oval, Fatima College defeated St Benedict's College by ten runs.

Both teams played in the premier division 50-over tournament earlier this season but got demoted after finishing in the bottom four in the ten-team table.

Adrian Mahase led the batting for Fatima with a knock of 45 to guide the team to 109/5 in 20 overs. Larell Guissepi pitched in with 22 for Fatima.

Bowling for St Benedict's, Ronaldo Smith kept the Fatima batsmen at bay with figures of 2/14 in his four overs.

St Benedict's struggled to build partnerships during their innings and fell short of the target, closing on 99/8 in 20 overs. Boundaries were tough to come by for St Benedict's as Fatima bowlers Davis Guerra and Maleek Lewis had strong performances.

Guerra ended with 2/12 and Lewis took 2/19.

After a disappointing 50-over tournament, Fatima coach Miguel Paty was pleased with the effort of his players. "I thought the effort today was excellent. The boys bounced back a lot from the 50 overs.

"It is unfortunate that we were relegated. We will try our best to come back up next season and all the boys want to do is give a good account of themselves in the Intercol and go as far as they can go."

Fatima and St Mary's have now joined Presentation College Chaguanas, Presentation College San Fernando, Toco Secondary, Vishnu Boys' Hindu College, Naparima College and Hillview College in the quarterfinals.

The quarterfinals will be held next week.

Summarised scores:

ST MARY'S 198/2 (20 overs) (Ryan Yearwood 93, Jesse Sookwah 88; Matthew Marchan 1/11, Sanjay Naidoo 1/17) vs PREYSAL SECONDARY 56 (18.1 overs) (Shiva Seejattan 14; Nathan Sancho 4/6, Samir Boodoo 2/0). St Mary's won by 142 runs.

FATIMA 109/5 (20 overs) (Adrian Mahase 45, Larell Guissepi 22; Ronaldo Smith 2/14) vs ST BENEDICT'S 99/8 (20 overs) (Jubari Bacchus 23, Shiva Harripersad 16; Davis Guerra 2/12, Maleek Lewis 2/19). Fatima won by ten runs.