North overcame North East by six wickets on Wednesday at Sangre Grande to qualify for the semifinals of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) U17 Inter-Zone tournament.
Needing a win to qualify for the final four, Nathan Sancho and Maleek Lewis took three wickets apiece to bowl out the home team for 114 at Brooklyn Recreation Ground.
Lewis and Kaiden Pollard then ushered North to victory in less than 17 overs, with an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 56 runs.
North recovered from an 83-run loss to East in their opening match, to rattle off two wins in a row to qualify for the semifinals.
They pulverized Tobago by 249 runs in their last match to give themselves a chance to seal a berth in the semifinals and needed to make a good start against North East on the road in East Trinidad.
After winning the toss, skipper Lewis inserted North East, which was bowled out cheaply against East last week, to bat first.
North East openers Z. Stewart and I. Gonzales made a positive start with an opening stand of 36 before the former went caught and bowled to Josiah Nicholls for 14.
Gonzales added a further 38 for the third wicket with Z. Beckles before his dismissal triggered an astonishing collapse.
North East lost their next seven wickets for only 16 runs before being bowled out for 114 in 29.3 overs.
Lewis, who had already claimed the wicket of T. Richards for 7, then removed top-scorer Gonzales for 33 and then had E. Ramsundar (0) caught off the first ball he faced.
Sancho, who has been brilliant with bat and ball for the season, took over and snared the next three wickets to fall with only five runs added.
He got rid of the stubborn Beckles for 22 and then trapped N. Edwards (0) LBW first ball.
Oxley survived the hat-trick ball and the last ball of the over, but Sancho bowled him for a duck off the first ball of his next over.
Sancho had three wickets in four balls during a spell that devastated the North East middle order.
The end of the innings came quickly after Sancho’s intervention.
Pollard removed D. Chaitram (4) cheaply before J. Gajadhar was run out, and Dominic Redhead bowled last man K. Guerra to end the innings at 114.
Lewis had the best figures of 3 for 17, with Sancho marginally behind with 3 for 22.
Pollard, Nicholls, and Redhead claimed a wicket apiece to ensure North would chase 115 for victory.
The North U17 run-chase did not start auspiciously with the first four wickets going down for 59 runs.
Opener Trevor Padilla was the first to go, caught off the bowling of Beckles without scoring.
Zakariyya Mohammed, who scored a half-century in his last match, steadied early nerves with a 37-run stand with skipper Lewis.
However, Richards dismissed Mohammed for 9 and then sent Rufano Steward back to the pavilion for a second ball duck.
Ethan John hit two fours in his 13 before he departed to Ramsundar for 13.
Skipper Lewis, who came in at the fall of the first wicket, was at the wicket when three wickets fell for 41.
He was 22 not out when Kaiden Pollard, North’s U15 captain, came in to start their team’s revival.
Pollard quickly took charge of proceedings, and Lewis blossomed with the pressure to find runs off his shoulders.
The North U17 captain has been in excellent form with two fifties in two matches.
Pollard, the MVP of the U15 tournament, blasted four sixes and three fours as North raced to victory.
He ended with 40 not out off 21 balls, while Lewis added 20 runs quickly to his tally to end on 42 not out.
Lewis and Pollard knocked off the remaining 56 runs for victory off only 38 balls to put their team in the semifinals.
Lewis missed out on his third straight fifty, and Pollard had his highest score as a North U17 player.
For North East, Richards was the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 27, while Beckles (1/20) and Ramsundar (1/30) also took wickets.
The semifinal round is carded for 2 April.
Summarized scores: North East 17 114 in 29.3 overs (I. Gonzales 33, Z. Beckles 22, M. Lewis 3/17, N. Sancho 3/22, D. Redhead 1/14, J. Nicholls 1/24, K. Pollard 1/32) vs. North U17 115 for 4 in 16.5 overs (M. Lewis 42*, K. Pollard 40*; T. Richards 2/27, Z. Beckles 1/20, E. Ramsundar. 1/30). North won by 6 wickets
Toss: North U17
North U17: Trevor Padilla, Zakariyya Mohammed, Maleek Lewis, Rufano Stewart, Ethan John, Kaiden Pollard, Mikaeel Ali, Tyrell Guiseppi, Josiah Nicholls, Dominic Redhead, Nathan Sancho.
