The North Zone Cricket Council’s 40 overs competition got going this past weekend at several venues across the division. The Zone played six matches in total from the three groups, but the Group 3 encounter between Santa Cruz and North Coast at the Brian Lara Recreation ground on Saturday was the major attraction. In attendance were the Minister of Education and Parliamentary representative for the St Ann’s East constituency Dr. the Honourable Nyan Gadsby-Dolly and Councillor for Maracas Bay/Santa Cruz/La Fillette, Sudhir Sagramsingh.
They were treated to an entertaining match but unfortunately for Santa Cruz, they could not take advantage of their regular ‘home’ venue and went under to their cross-mountain neighbours by 97 runs.
Batting first after winning the toss, North Coast United posted a healthy 260 all out in 33 overs with half-centuries from Kendall Guerra and Kifah Hernandez. In reply, Santa Cruz were bundled out for 163, losing nine wickets in the process with Donavan Stripp unable to bat having sustained a hamstring injury while bowling.
North Coast Set The Pace
North Coast started well with openers Terrance James and Darius Padilla putting on 57 for the first wicket, that of James caught off the bowling of Barry Nicholas for 38. Padilla fell in the same over for 12 with just one run added. The double strike brought Kifah Hernandez and Akiel Guerra together and they shared in a third wicket stand of 76 before both batsmen fell in quick succession, with the score on 134. Hernandez contributed a quick fire 54 runs from 26 deliveries and was the first of five scalps for Joshua Wong while Nicholas accounted for A. Guerra who made 18. Kendall Guerra and Junior James added 77 runs for the fifth wicket with James adding a valuable 29 runs. James fell with the score on 211 and Guerra with a little help from the lower order pushed the score over the 250-run mark, finishing not out on 74 from 61 balls. Joshua Wong finished with figures of 5-36 and Nicholas had 3-45. Rocky Rajkumar was the other successful bowler taking 2-72.
Santa Cruz Run Chase
In Santa Cruz’s turn at bat, Nicholas followed up his three-wicket bowling performance with a top score of 70. The next best contribution came from Brad Woodruff, 29 with Aaron Rosales and Sherwin Raymond the only other batters to score in double figures, 14 and 13 respectively. Terrance James was the pick of the North Coast bowlers taking 3-41, while Claude De Vignes, Kendall Guerra, Darrell Dennison, and Akiel Guerra took one wicket each.
The other Group 3 match took place on Sunday, also at the Brian Lara Rec Ground in Santa Cruz and spectators witnessed a most exciting encounter between Shannon Sports Club and Glenora Sports Club.
In a match reduced to 35 overs, Glenora won the toss and asked Shannon SC to bat. Shannon posted 214-8 off 34.5 overs. Opening batsman Kernel Edwards top scored with 47 and his partner at the top of the order Waylon George-Joyeau made 39, they shared in a partnership of 96 runs. Other noteworthy contributions came from Dusty Joseph 38 and Kenneth Stewart 29. Vishal Persad took 4-54, Stefon Bissoon had 2-42, while Javon Charles and Dayanand Nigel Patrick took one apiece.
Glenora’s Run Chase
Glenora, in reply, got to 212 for 9. They were led by a fighting 62 from Stefon Bissoon with five other batsmen getting starts, but only Naseebullah 33, and Jesse Roland 24 got past the twenty-run mark. Glenora, at 211-7 in the final over, were in with a good chance of reaching the target but with four runs needed from two balls, they lost two wickets, both via the run-out route by bowler Kenneth Stewart, losing a heartbreaker by just two runs. For Shannon, Kelvin John took 3-29 while Lancelot Mc Cathy and Dusty Joseph had two wickets each.
In Group 1: Invincible, playing back-to-back matches on the weekend, made it two wins in as many games. They defeated Paragon on Saturday by 117 runs, at the Barataria Recreation Ground on Sixth Avenue, and on Sunday they defeated Bourg Mulatresse by 85 runs at the Ato Boldon Recreation Ground, San Juan.
Teams: Invincible vs Paragon
Venue: Barataria Recreation Ground
Toss: Invincible (Elected to bat)
Scores:
Invincible 206 (30.0 overs) (Shameer Ali 57, Mighuel Mahabir 54, Ramesh Dhanraj 36)
Junior Mearns 5-34; Richard Alexander 2-29; Brent Lezama 2-47
Paragon 89-9 (20.3 overs) (Abraham Alonzo 24)
Stephon Marcano 4-34; Miguel Mahabir 3-18; Ramesh Dhanraj 2-6
Result: Invincible won by 117 runs
Teams: Invincible vs Bourg Mulatresse
Venue: Ato Boldon Recreation Ground, San Juan
Toss: Invincible (Elected to bat)
Scores:
Invincible 237-9 (30.0 overs) (Ramesh Dhanraj 76, Mighuel Mahabir 38, Suresh Dhanraj 33)
Mark Apparico 2-33; Keron Balbosa 2-36: Anthony Lara 1-8
Bourg Mulatresse 149 (25.3 overs) (Nicholas Boodoo32, Shawn Sort 30)
Miguel Mahabir 4-22; Shameer Ali 2-26; Ramesh Dhanraj 2-26
Result: Invincible won by 85 runs
In Group 2:
Saturday 15th April 2023
Teams: Combined All Stars vs Pole 9
Venue: Boundary Road, Aranguez
Toss: Pole 9 (Elected to bowl)
Scores:
Combined All Stars 182-8 (35 overs) (Troy Cornelius 44, Ray Campbell 29, Keshan Roopnarine 25)
Ganesh Loochan 2-22; Rishi Manach 2-33; Darren Ragbir 2-54
Pole 9 160 All out (29.1 overs) (Benny Halal 34, Vernie Ramkissoon 30)
Daryl Dougles 4-30; Earnil Ryan 2-9)
Result: Combined won by 22 runs
Sunday 16th April 2023
Teams: Barataria Ball Players vs Savannah Boys
Venue: Barataria Recreation Ground
Toss: Savannah Boys (Elected to bowl)
Scores:
Barataria 135 (28.3 Overs) (Carl Vialva 32, Isaiah Cain 29, Zedy Lord 22)
Ameer Ali 4-29; Abdool Saied Razack 3-39
Savannah Boys 81 (20.3 overs) (Rishad Ali 15, Sameer Ali 14, Abdool Saied Razack 14)
Derron Wilson 5-12; Vaughn Browne 3-14; Carl Vialva 2-22
Result: Barataria won by 54 runs
Match Day Three Upcoming Fixtures
