North Zone bounced back from defeat in their opening game of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) U17 Inter-Zone Tournament with a crushing 249-run win over Tobago on Wednesday at St Mary’s College grounds.
Powered by half-centuries from Zakariyya Mohammed, Maleek Lewis and Nathan Sancho, North set a monumental 339 for victory.
Sancho then led the way with four wickets, while Tyrell Guiseppi snared a treble, to fire out Tobago for 89 in less than 19 overs.
North’s victory has revived their chances of a place in the TTCB U17 Inter-Zone semifinals, with North-East to play next Wednesday in their final preliminary round match.
“The result is definitely what they needed. Although they had a good performance against Tobago, I am still not satisfied in the manner we went about our batting. We lost too many wickets,” said North U17 coach Dwayne Davis.
“There are still things to work on going forward but it is good to get the victory to give them a little confidence,” he added.
North’s chances of a semifinal place took a hit after going down by 83 runs to East in their opening game last Wednesday, despite a battling 50 from Lewis and Sancho’s 30 not out and 2 for 37.
Skipper Lewis won the toss and decided to bat first, and he ensured his choice was a good one by getting 66 off 57 balls in a 119-run second-wicket partnership with Zakariyya Mohammed.
Lewis’ second straight fifty in the competition came to an end on 145 for 2, and Mohammed carried on to get 72 off 102 balls.
Rufano Stewart got a quick-fire 44 off 37 balls, adding 38 for the third wicket with Mohammed, and then 68 for the fourth with Kaiden Pollard (37).
North regressed slightly after the dismissal of Pollard, losing three wickets for 11 runs in 13 balls but a 48-run stand between Sancho and Tristan Craig powered their team past the 300-run mark.
Sancho ended with 51 not out off 23 balls, with five sixes and two fours, and is yet to be dismissed for the tournament.
North posted a challenging 338 for 9 in their 50 overs despite Kardell Richards taking 3 for 47 and Jayshean Baptiste getting 3 for 55.
Coach Davis felt his team lost too many wickets against the Tobago bowling attack but did point out some areas of improvement.
“In that respect, one of the openers stood up and batted through the innings. That was good to see. He was ably supported by captain Maleek Lewis. So, there was their improvement in their patience, and not giving away the chances,” he said.
“Sancho had an excellent game with the bat and the ball. So hopefully he can keep going in that vein moving forward. (Overall,) I wasn’t too happy (with the batting) because coming down to the end they lost too many wickets. it was much improved though,” Davis said.
“We are playing to go forward in the tournament. Every game is a learning experience and we are hoping for better and better performances as we move forward.”
Tobago’s response to a target of 339 started poorly, losing Isa Ali (0) as Craig turned on the heat early.
Craig then bowled Fabrice Lynch (2), before Tobago lost three wickets for 19 runs in 15 balls.
Sancho castled Brendon Melville for 7 before shattering Samuel James’ stumps for a second-ball duck.
Dominic Redhead then got rid of opener Richards for an enterprising 22 off 19 balls as Tobago slid to 39 for 5.
Tobago cautiously got to 60 for 5 before Sancho came back to haunt them with two wickets in the 11th over and trigger another three-wicket collapse.
He first had Kaylon Pierre caught by Redhead (10) before knocking back Kwasi Thomas’ stumps for 11.
Larell Guiseppi, playing his first U17 game of the season, showed few nerves with the ball as he took the last three wickets for his team.
He took his first wicket by having Malik Roberts caught behind by Mohammed for 1 and then got Baptiste lobbing a catch to depart for 14.
Guiseppi closed out victory for North by trapping Amit Gokool for 8, to win the game by a whopping 249 runs.
Sancho took 4 for 22 to go with his unbeaten half-century, while Guiseppi had 3 for 15 in his 3.4 overs.
“We dropped a couple of catches. But in terms of the bowling, with the big score we had we could have been a bit more aggressive and attack the batting more with the field setting. All in all, they did well to get them out below 100,” coach Davis said.
“All 10 wickets came for the seamers. It is actually a plus because you know in Trinidad we tend to rely heavily on the spinners.”
Davis praised the performances of Sancho and Guiseppi, who was playing only his second game at 17 level, and his first in the 2025 season.
“(Guiseppi) did pretty well with the ball taking three wickets. He was wicket-to-wicket, troubling the batsmen, and got three wickets for that. It was a plus as well. Hopefully, he can build on that performance and get even better ones going forward,” he said.
“So far so good (for Sancho). I don’t want to jinx it.”
North will take on North East next Wednesday at Brooklyn Ground in Sangre Grande for a place in the semifinals.
Davis is confident his team will be able to take care of business and get to the semifinal.
“The first game (against East), I think we could have won that game. Concentration being better, I think we could have had a better performance in that game. They did very well against Tobago,” he said.
“(On Wednesday) East bowled out North East for under 100, I believe. So, I am thinking if we put in a good performance then we have a chance.”
Summarized scores: North 338 for 9 in 50 overs (Zakariyya Mohammed 72, Maleek Lewis 66, Nathan Sancho 51*; Kardell Richards 3/47, Jayshean Baptiste 3/55) vs. Tobago 89 all out in 18.4 overs (Kardell Richards 22, Jayshean Baptiste 14; Nathan Sancho 4/22, Tyrell Guiseppi 3/15, Tristan Craig 2/6). North won by 249 runs
Toss: North U17
North Team: Trevor Padilla, Zakariyya Mohammed, Maleek Lewis, Rufano Stewart, Kaiden Pollard, Mikaeel Ali, Tyrell Guiseppi, Nathan Sancho, Josiah Nicholls, Dominic Redhead, Tristan Craig
