South whip North on final day of Classic

South secured a big win in the Namalco Construction Services Ltd North/South Classic as they turned the screws on North on the final day at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba on January 12.

North batsmen Andrew Rambaran and Dexter Sween tried their best to prevent a defeat, but their efforts were in vain as they went under by an innings and 68 runs.

Responding to North’s first-innings score of 346, South were bowled out for a mammoth total of 612 – giving themselves a big 266-run lead after the first innings.

Continuing from their overnight score of 552 for eight, South added 60 runs to their total, with lower-order batsman Justin Manick scoring 45. Crystian Thurton (69) and Daniel Williams (56) both helped themselves to fifties in their 105-run partnership for the seventh wicket, to add to the contributions of Jason Mohammed (224) and Cephas Cooper and Jyd Goolie, who both got fifties.

After Isaiah Rajah (42) and Vikash Mohan (33) got North off to a solid start in their second innings with a 77-run opening stand, a collapse ensued as they lost five wickets in quick succession before the dinner break.

Spinners Goolie and Shatrughan Rambaran did the major damage early as they took two wickets apiece, with Dejourn Charles (two) and Tion Webster (duck) both falling cheaply after the openers were removed.

North slipped to 98 for five when Antonio Gomez (six) was bowled by Goolie with a ball which spun and kept very low. North went to the dinner break at 102 for five, but they lost their sixth wicket shortly after the interval when allrounder Joshua James (one) fended a Justyn Gangoo delivery to Cooper at short-leg.

North progressed to 171 for six – still trailing by 95 runs – with the steady Rambaran (52) finding an ally in Sween (28) in a partnership yielding more than 50 runs.

But when Rambaran fell to Mohammed's off spin for 57 off 119 balls, the writing was on the wall for North.

Summarised Scores:

NORTH – 346 (Andrew Rambaran 84, Joshua James 59, Vikash Mohan 38; Justin Manick 5/74, Aadian Racha 2/58) and 198 (A Rambaran 57, Isaiah Rajah 42, V Mohan 33) vs SOUTH – 612 (Jason Mohammed 224, Cephas Cooper 98, Crystian Thurton 69; Tion Webster 3/78, Philton Williams 3/96).