North will face Tobago in the last preliminary game in the Scotiabank NextGen Development Tournament at the St. Mary’s Ground on Friday, March 18, to book a semi-final spot.
Round 1 North vs East
Zonal under 15 cricket returned for the first time since 2020, when North u15 took on East u15 in a Group A encounter at St. Mary’s Ground, St. Clair on Tuesday, March 8.
The North team, captained by Maleek Lewis, lost the toss and was asked to bat first by East, on a good-looking wicket at CIC.
North got off to a good start, with opener Varisht Ramdeen getting (17) to lead North to 52/2 in the 12th over. However, they soon ran out of ideas, literally, as North suffered 5 run-outs in quick succession to leave them all out for 71. East captain Yasir Deen was the pick of the bowlers, as he picked up 3 for 7.
In reply, East got off to a shaky start when North’s opening bowler Dominic Redhead hit the top off the off stump in the 3rd over to leave East 8/1. It was soon 24/3 after Varisht Ramdeen picked up 2 wickets with some accurate spin bowling. However, that would be all the joy North would get as Renaldo Fornillier hit a brisk 35 not out to lead East to victory by 7 wickets.
Round 2 North vs North East
It was a must win game for North when they faced North East in the second round. North East, who were high on confidence after beating Tobago in round one, chose to bowl first on a sunny morning at St. Mary’s.
That decision seemed to play into North’s hands, however, as opener Varisht Ramdeen (52) and number 3 batter Mikaeel Ali (52) put on 93 for the 2nd wicket. The two batters complimented each other well with Ali playing with controlled aggression, getting his runs off 43 balls while Ramdeen was the steady hand.
After North East was able to break that partnership, in came Dominic Redhead who was batting well on 33 not out with Ethan John on 12 not out when the rains came to delay the match. Maleek Lewis also contributed 24 from 26 balls to get North to 228/4 in 42 overs. Joshua Alfred 2/31 and Ishant Roopnarine 1/22 were the pick of the bowlers for North East.
Chasing 229 in 42 overs, North East got off to a poor start when their opener was caught in slip off the bowling of Ramdeen to leave them 2/1, Ramdeen would finish with 1/17.
There were good partnerships between Isreal Gonzales 35 not out and Zackilon Beckles 20, then Gonzales and Ethan Ramsundar 58 not out but North East could not keep up with the run rate. They eventually finished on 161/3 in their 42 overs. Maleek Lewis 1/18 and Mikaeel Ali 1/35 picked up the other wickets for North as they were victorious by 67 runs.
