North Zone fell to a 148-run loss to Central Zone at CALDRAC Ground in the semi-final of the 2024 TTCB U15 Inter-Zone tournament.
Chasing 220 for victory, North was bowled out for 71 with Mikaeel Ali top-scoring with 20 before a massive batting collapse.
Earlier, Shaheen Khan took 3 for 48 as Central rallied to a total of 219 in 48.2 overs.
Central will now play South in the final on Friday at the National Cricket Center, Balmain after the Southerners eased past East by 102 runs in their semifinal.
The semifinal at Caldrac Grounds in California featured the sons of two former West Indies players.
Daron Dhanraj, son of former West Indies spinner Rajindra Dhanraj, and Kaiden Pollard, the off-spring of former Windies skipper Kieron Pollard.
North had rattled off victories over North-East and Tobago to make it to the semifinal, and their confidence showed as they removed the dangerous Central pair of Reyad Jerome (4) and Ra’ed Khan (0) cheaply.
However, the tenacious Central team fought back, rallying to 106 for 3 with a succession of contrasting partnerships.
First, Sanjay Naidoo (10) and Zakariyya Mohammed put on a restorative 26 runs off 19 balls, before Mohammed (19) and Joshua Joseph further steadied the ship with a measured 32 off 33 balls.
Joseph would battle through with Alex Ramdeen in a gritty fifth wicket stand of 42 in 84 balls.
North built up the pressure on the two batters superbly before Davis Guerra swooped in to remove both Joseph (51) and Ramdeen (23) in quick succession.
Mikaeel Ali struck two further blows to leave Central at the crossroads on 166 for 8.
However, Central showed their mettle with K’Hill Thomas (25) and Sameer Khan adding a crucial 44 for the ninth wicket to push the total past 200.
Khan ended on 23 not out, with Central bowled out for 219 in 48.2 overs.
Shaheem Khan (3/48) and Zahir Khan (1/27) made the early inroads for North, with Guerra (2/31) and Mikaeel Ali (2/30) doing the job in the middle overs.
North had previously chased 167 to beat North-East, but they had no answer to lanky opening seamer Daniel Holder.
The Enterprise-born medium-pacer cleaved through the North top order, reducing the visitors to 39 for 3 by the end of the 11th over.
Pollard, who anchored both of North’s victories in the competition, then fell cheaply for 12 off the bowling of Thomas.
Holder, who campaigns for Vishnu Boys Hindu School in the SSCL, then returned to dismiss Ali for a top score of 20, triggering a huge slide that saw the final six wickets fall for just four runs.
Ali had added 26 for the fifth wicket with Davis Guerra, who quickly became Amrit Pittiman’s only wicket of the innings.
Holder returned to trap Austin Lukur (0) to earn his fifth wicket, while Dhanraj had Zahir Khan LBW for 0.
Ra’ed Khan removed Ruel Goberdan without scoring before Dhanraj sealed the victory by bowling Aidan Tom for 2.
Holder had superb figures of 5 for 17 in his 10 overs, while Dhanraj had 2 for 4 for Central in their 148-run victory.
In the other semifinal, played at the National Cricket Center, Adan Gopaul hit 60 to lead South to 243 in 49.5 overs.
Shaan Ramtahal contributed 44 while Sachin Nandlal (39) and Aaden Owen (39 not out) also got runs for South.
Ramtahal then captured 4 for 19, while Owen (3/39) and Roberto Badree (2/26) contributed to limit South for 141 for 9 in their 50 overs.
South won by 102 runs and will battle Central in the final at the National Cricket Center on 23 February.
