Schools captains trade banter ahead of T20 finals

HILLVIEW captain Dexter Sween wants his team to experience the feeling of victory again when the PowerGen Secondary Schools Cricket League (SSCL) T20 Intercol finals bowl off at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, tomorrow.

The boys final featuring Hillview and Naparima is set for 6pm, with the girls final — St Stephen’s College vs Barrackpore East — preceding at 2pm.

The four captains were all beaming with confidence at a press conference yesterday at Normandie Hotel in St Ann’s.

“As I said earlier, 2017 we tasted victory and it is a good taste, so it is obvious we want to get that same taste in 2018. I know it is not going to be easy, but I just want to say ‘Naps watch out’,” Sween said.

Naparima captain, Cephas Cooper, who is a West Indies Under-19 player, is counting on the national youth players to lead the way for Naparima.

“A team is made up of 11 players, but the senior players need to put their hands up come Friday. We have players like Justyn Gangoo and Avinash Mahabirsingh – those are our core players, so come Friday we need them to step up for us,” Cooper said.

Savie Gopaul, captain of Barrackpore East, said despite her team being the underdogs in the girls final, they believe the trophy will be heading to Barrackpore East.

Gopaul said, “We have a young team with talented girls and they have been working really hard throughout the season to reach this far today. Even though they (St Stephen’s) are the defending champions, we will trample them. I want to wish St Stephen’s best of luck on Friday and also best of luck to Hillview and Naps boys. Go South!”

Janelle Noel, captain of St Stephen’s, said Barrackpore’s run has been impressive but it ends tomorrow. “As finalists for this year’s competition, I speak for the entire team when I say we intend to take it all the way with nothing but positive vibes in our minds. To Barrackpore East Secondary, I congratulate you on reaching this far, but like I said to last year’s finalists ‘the trophy is ours’,” Noel said. Sharaz Mohammed, first vice-president of the SSCL, thanked PowerGen for its commitment to the SSCL. Mohammed said, “To PowerGen we want to say thank you for the 23rd year of sponsorship. PowerGen’s sponsorship would have started in 1994 as a part sponsor with Pearl and Bunty Lara and Coca Cola, that were on board at that time. And in 1995, Omar Khan, who was the head of corporate communications at PowerGen...decided that PowerGen was going to take on the full sponsorship of Secondary Schools Cricket League.”

General manager at PowerGen, Surindranath Ramsingh, said the company has always been dedicated to helping youngsters in sport. Ramsingh said, “Some 23 years ago when our sponsorship began, we were equally convinced and determined that we had to provide an empowering and rewarding activity for our nation’s youth. We chose to sponsor cricket because we know the benefits of sport in the lives of young people.”