Glenora Sports Club will take on Pole 9 in the featured opening match of the 2024 North Zone 40-over tournament on Saturday at St Mary’s College Grounds.
Glenora finished fifth in the North Zone Senior Division league competition, while Pole 9 is challenging for the Division One title.
A new champion will be crowned in 2024 as last year’s champions Police Cricket Club were promoted to Premiership II.
Glenora, the 2019 champions are confident ahead of their match against the lower-division opposition.
“We are confident. We had an issue with a specialist wicketkeeper. Now that he (Randy Balliram) is confirmed, we are pretty confident but as you know, cricket is played on the day,” said Glenora manager Dayanand Patrick.
Patrick said Pole 9 has had a good squad over the years and expects a good challenge.
“I know one or two of their players, like Luke Latiff. Luke is a good bowler. It is obvious we will want to see him off,” he said.
Patrick said Glenora did not have the best season but overcame a tough start to move up to fifth in the league table.
“We had a tough league tournament. We lost first innings points in three games within the last over to the last wicket. We had bad luck,” he said.
“The first three games we struggled but we started to do well after our third game by winning first innings and outright wins,” Patrick added.
Meanwhile, Pole 9 has been decimated by injuries and the loss of players through work commitments.
“Our main wicket-taker (Rishi Mannah) is unavailable due to a back injury and a couple of the players have not played any games because of health issues,” said Pole 9 player Vernie Ramkissoon.
“One or two players because of work have become unavailable for the later part of the season but we hope to have them available for the Glenora match,” he added.
The San Juan team is confident they can provide a good test for their Senior Division opponents.
“We haven’t been paying attention to how Glenora has been doing but we know that they have some pretty good players. Considering that we are in the running to top Division One, and get promoted to the Senior Division, I think we might be able to give them a good challenge considering we have a lot of players who are injured and unavailable,” Ramkissoon said.
The match commences at noon at Serpentine Road, Port-of-Spain and will be streamed on the North Zone’s Youtube channel and Facebook page.
In the other North Zone 40-over matches on Saturday, North Side Future Stars take on Santa Cruz at the Brian Lara Cricket Ground.
Savannah Boys will face Bourg Mulatresse at Barataria Recreation Ground.
Round 1 continues on Sunday with three matches.
Newly-crowned North Zone Senior Division champions, El Socorro Youth Movement, are up against QPCC North Zone at Boundary Road.
Paragon Sports & Cultural Club will meet Invincible Cricket Club at Brian Lara Recreation Ground, Santa Cruz.
Shannon Sports Club challenges Barataria Ball Players at the Barataria Recreation Ground, Sixth Avenue Barataria.
North Zone 40 Overs – Fixtures Round One.
