In a closely contested final round of North Zone Division 1 cricket, where any of the three teams could have topped the standings, Invincible rose to the occasion to wrest the title from Shannon and Pole 9.
Playing on their home ground at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Invincible beat Bourg Mulatresse by an innings and 66 runs on Sunday to win the Division 1 league title.
Invincible won the toss and elected to field. That seemed to be a good decision with Bourg losing Delaney Hinds for no score with just one run on the board. A mini recovery of sorts saw Keron Balbosa 28 and Jordan Williams 12 take the score to 49 before Balbosa was the first of four wickets for Ramesh Dhanraj. Shawn Cort retired hurt after being struck in the face by the first ball he faced and Jordan Williams was bowled by Miguel Mahabir with no addition to the score. Mark Apparicio and Nicholson Baptiste featured in the most productive partnership, 69 for the fourth wicket. Apparicio was caught behind off Shamir Ali for 29 with the score on 118 while Baptiste top scoreed of 44. Nicholas Boodoo chipped in with 29, but the innings fell away and the San Juan based team were all out for 169. Ramesh Dhanraj finished with 4-23 and Shamir Ali had 4-30.
The Kevin Singh show
Invincible knew how important a positive result would be in the context of the title chase and approached their innings cautiously at first. Some wayward bowling from Bourg however assisted the home team’s cause, which saw them declare on 267 for the loss of just two wickets in just 32.5 overs. All four Invincible batsmen scored at better than a run a ball with Kevin Singh scoring a brilliant unbeaten 106 off 104 balls. Singh and opening partner Shamir Ali put on 98 for the first wicket, that of Ali who was caught by Kenjie Vaughn off the bowling of Keron Balbosa for 64, his runs coming off just 31 balls. Ramesh Dhanraj contributed 16 before he was bowled by Carl Alexis but Raphael Ali ensured there were no further casualties sharing in an unbroken 142 run stand with his 60 not out contribution.
Trailing on first innings by 98 runs, Bourg Mulatresse did not offer much resistance and were reduced to 32-6 before they basically gave up, gifting Invincible the innings victory. Dhanraj was again the standout with the ball taking 5-9 to finish with match figures of 9-32.
With the Shannon/Pole 9 game being played next door on the Sweet Revenge ground, Invincible knew they had done enough to win and will move up to the senior division in 2024.
The other Showdown
At Sweet Revenge Ground, Pole 9, who were tied with Invincible on 58 points going into the final round, were also in a position to win the title but their job would have been harder facing a Shannon team which were on top of the standings. They acquitted themselves quite well by winning outright but could only earn 23 points to Invincible’s 27.
Shannon won the toss and would have been pleased with the decision to insert Pole 9, dismissing the opposition for a meagre 123. Vernie Ramkissoon, the only batsman getting into the twenties, he made 25. Shannon, unfortunately, did not approach their innings well and were bundled out for 80 runs. With a lead of forty-three on first innings, Pole 9 went after the Shannon bowling and racked up 154-2 with Narad Sookwah missing out on a half-century, losing his wicket on 49, and Riaz Mohammed unbeaten on 41. Trailing by 197 and facing an insurmountable task, Shannon reached 80 for 6 when they conceded the match.
Invincible finished the league with 85 points, Pole 9 had 81 points and Shannon faltering at the final hurdle getting just two points in their final game, and finishing with 67 points.
Senior Division
In the lone Senior Division played over the weekend, Paragon won on first innings against North Coast denying the Maracas based squad an opportunity to move up to third in the standings. Batting first after winning the toss, Paragon posted 165 all out with Bren Lezama top scoring with 72. North Coast bowlers were all amongst the wickets with Terrance James, Claude De Vignes, Kendall Guerra, and Akiel Guerra taking two wickets each while Darrel Dennison picked up one.
In reply, North Coast fell twenty-five runs short of overhauling the first innings score and were all out for 141. Akiel Guerra top scored with 40 while Kifah Hernandez 25, D. Dennison 22, and K. Guerra 15 getting starts.
Both divisions will now come together and do battle in three groups in the 40-over competition, which starts on April 15th.
