Police will meet Barataria Ball Players in the final of the North Zone Cricket Council’s 40-over competition, a battle between the top two teams from the League. The 40-over final will be played on Sunday 14th May at the Brian Lara Recreation Ground in Santa Cruz.
Road to the Final:
In Sunday’s semifinals, Police disposed of their fellow Group A team Invincible Cricket Club at the Brian Lara Recreation Ground in Santa Cruz, while Barataria defeated North Coast United at the Barataria Recreation Ground.
At Santa Cruz:
The lawmen hardly broke a sweat in their semifinal match, winning the toss and fielding, a decision that proved to be a good one as Invincible were bundled out for a measly 56 in 16.4 overs. Justin Joseph was the main destroyer for Police taking 6-27 from six overs. Damion Brown was also among the wickets with 3-8 and Deon Wells accounted for one wicket. Raphael Ali was the only player on the Invincible team to score in double figures. He made 17.
Police lost three wickets in their chase but got to the target in 7.5 overs. Ramesh Dhanraj dismissed both openers, Brian Yearwood for 6 and Brandon Ramdial 17. Antonio Gonzales hit a top score of 24 before he was bowled by Raphael Ali with just nine runs needed to win. Raymond Lyons and Kerron Simmons made sure there were no further casualties, Police won by seven wickets.
At Barataria:
The 2022 40-over trophy winners, Barataria Ball Players, won the toss and opted to bat and were all out for 150 in 29.4 overs. Claude De Vignes was virtually unplayable early on, accounting for Barataria’s top five batsmen. The score after 11.1 overs was 63-5, but that quickly became 71-6 as Kendall Guerra got into the act, dismissing Zeddy Lord for 2. Derron Wilson top-scored for the hosts with 37 and shared in an important eighth-wicket partnership of 42 with Teyron Harbin before he was run out. De Vignes finished with 5-28 from eight overs, Terrance James had 2-64 while Guerra took the other wicket to fall.
North Coast would have been happy to chase 150 but got off to a terrible start losing two wickets with the score on four and a third with just nine runs on the board. Kendall Guerra sparked a mini recovery with a top score of 26 but got little help as Claude De Vignes was the only other batsman in double figures with 10. North Coast were eventually all out for 80 in 18.3 overs. Carl Vialva was the pick of the bowlers taking 4-20, Derron Wilson was also very good with the ball, he had figures of 3-10 and Vaughn Brown picked up 2-25. Barataria won by 70 runs and booked their place in the final.
Ahead to the T20:
Coming out of the 40-over competition, Group A teams Paragon Sports and Cultural Club and Bourg Mulatresse CCC will miss out on the shortest format after finishing in the bottom two spots of the standings.
Only the top ten teams from the 40 overs qualified for the T20. Those teams are:- Police; Barataria; North Coast United; Invincible; Pole 9; Shannon; Savannah Boys; Santa Cruz; Glenora and Combine All Stars.
The T20 matches bowl off at the Diego Martin Sporting Complex on Friday evening at 7 pm with a dress rehearsal of the 40-over final between Police and Barataria. On Saturday at 6:30 pm, Pole 9 will do battle with Savannah Boys.
The T20 competition will take a break for the 40-over final on Sunday and matches will resume on Tuesday 16th May. The Diego Martin Sporting Complex will host all the T20 matches.
North Zone T20 Fixtures:
