El Socorro Youth Movement (EYM) and Santa Cruz Sports Club were declared joint North Zone 40-over champions after rain forced the final on Saturday to be abandoned.
EYM skipper Shakeem Prince won the toss and inserted the home team, which included former West Indies batsman Darren Bravo
Santa Cruz got to 19 without loss in the third over before the wickets began to tumble.
EYM seamer Saied Razack had Alvin Smith caught at short extra cover for 2 before Akil Timothy struck two telling blows in the next over.
He bowled Santa Cruz opener Devon Sween for 11 before yorking George Malchan for a duck two balls later.
Bravo played out a maiden to Razack before Timothy returned to bowl Cleon Burnley for a duck.
Santa Cruz had lost four wickets without scoring a run in 16 balls.
Isaiah Hayes got 9 off 22 balls before he was caught at first slip of skipper Prince.
However, the rains came with Bravo not out on 8 off 15 balls, while Kashma Mitchell was not out on 0.
The elements never relented with Santa Cruz tottering at 38 for 5 in 11 overs.
Timothy had 3 for 7, while Prince (1/8) and Razack (1/19) also had wickets for EYM.
EYM has now won the 40-over and league titles in North Zone competitions in 2024.
The El Socorro club also won promotion to the Premiership II division, beating UWI Sports Club in a playoff in April.
“It was a little depressing for us, as we planned to come out here and win the 40 over competition, after winning the league. But that is how it goes with the rain,” EYM skipper Prince told northzonecricket.com.
“We were in a really good position. It started with us winning the toss, which was a really good thing for us. We had them 38 for 5 and this rain came and soured us a little bit,” he added.
Prince said his team was still very pleased with their efforts in the 2024 season.
“We are really happy still. Our team has been working very hard and we got everything in our favor,” he said.
Santa Cruz skipper Kashma Mitchell said his team was pleased to be joint winners of the North Zone 40-over tournament.
“We would have liked to have the game completed but unfortunately rain was the judge of that. It feels nice to be winners but it would have been better to be outstanding winners,” he said.
“The toss did not work in our favor. Even though we had hiccups to start, I still feel we had the capabilities to take it deep with the batsmen that we have. The wicket started to get a little easier to play on so I had confidence in the batting that we had there,” Mitchell said.
The Santa Cruz said that the 40-over title meant a lot to his team and community after their disappointing performance in the two-day tournament.
“This one is a big highlight for our team going into the T20 competition. So I think it has boosted a lot of confidence in our team,” he said.
The North Zone T20 tournament will be staged in July following the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup.
