East, South, Central notch final prelim round U19 Interzone wins

EAST, Central and South closed off their respective Under-19 Interzone Tournament campaigns in winning stride on March 28.

At Knowles Street Recreation Ground in Curepe, East hammered North East by 114 runs. After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, East posted a formidable total of 301 all out in 47.3 overs.

Captain A Toppin led all scorers with a quick-fire knock of 93 runs from 67 balls and was assisted by a J Mendoza (52) half century and 48 from A Kassiram. S Saroop (25) and S McPherson (21) also had fair contributions with the bat.

Toppin and Mendoza combined for a healthy 151-run partnership.

Z Beckles, however, shone with the ball for North East as he picked up a stellar 7/58 with C Shai (2/15) bagging two.

In response, North East had good knocks from J Gonzales (42) and opener I Gonzales (37) but neither could get them over the line. In the end, North East were dismissed for 187 from 42.5 overs with Qadeer Juman (2/28), Renaldo Fournillier (2/29) and McPherson (2/43) among the wickets.

Over at National and Mon Desir Cricket Ground in San Fernando, South defeated crosstown rivals South West by ten runs.

Opting to bat first, South scored 141 all out from 31.2 overs, led by top order batsmen Amit Chan (33), Sachin Nandlal (29), Kival Rajkumar (25) and number nine batsman Kyriel Marryshow (21).

Ashmeer Jumadeen (4/17) and Isa Ali (4/31) topped the bowling for South East.

Set at a gettable 142 for victory, South West struggled with the bat while South dominated with the bowling.

Jaden Seurattan (31) was South West’s best hitter followed by Omanan Deopersad (18). Doing the damage with the ball for South were Aden Owen (4/40), Daniel Rampersad (3/11) and Arion Mohammed (2/15).

And at Avidesh Samaroo Park in Chaguanas, Central edged South East by one wicket.

Opting to bat first, South East posted 195 all out from 45.1 overs courtesy Akshay Seecharan (58), Steven Gomez (39) and Aadian Racha (28). Aaron Basant (2/31), Aneal Rooplal (2/32) and Fareez Ali (2/41) were the pick of the bowlers for Central.

In their turn at the crease, Central had stable knocks from the majority of their batting line-up. Ramone Sawh (29), Saleem Khan (28), Basant (28) and Rooplal (21) all championed the chase.

With eight overs to go and just one wicket in hand, Rooplal struck the winning runs to carry Central to 197/9 despite the bowling contributions from South East’s Brendan Boodoo (2/33) and Christian Rampersad (2/42).