The spotlight will be on the Brian Lara Recreation Ground in Santa Cruz for the opening of the North Zone Cricket Council’s 40-over Tournament on Saturday 15 April.
The match chosen to highlight the occasion is the Group 3 encounter between Santa Cruz Sports Association and North Coast United. The event will take on even more significance with Dr. the Honourable Nyan Gadsby Dolly, Minister of Education, expected to attend as both teams fall within her constituency of St. Ann’s East. Councillor of Maracas Bay/Santa Cruz/La Fillette will also be in attendance.
The match is scheduled to bowl off at 12 noon and will be preceded by a short opening ceremony hosted by the Chair of the North Zone, Winston Sobers.
The other teams in Group 3 are Shannon Sports Club and Glenora Sports Club. They will be in action on Sunday 16 April. All matches in Group 3 will be contested at the Santa Cruz venue.
Action in Groups 1 and 2 will also get going this weekend. The teams in Group 1 are Invincible Cricket Club, Paragon Sports, and Cultural Club, Police Sports Club and Bourg Mulatresse Community Cricket Club. Pool 2 consists of Pole 9, Combined All Stars, Savannah Boys and Barataria Ball Players.
On Saturday, Invincible will do battle with Paragon at the Barataria Recreation Ground while Pole 9 will take on Combined All Stars at Boundary Rd, Aranguez. Bourg Mulatresse will open their account against Invincible at the Ato Boldon Recreation Ground, San Juan on Sunday and at the same time, Barataria Ball Players will be at home to Savannah Boys.
Police looking to better last year’s performance
Police, the North Zone League Champs, is the only team not in action this weekend. They will bowl off their 40 over campaign on April 22nd against Paragon at the Barracks in St. James.
The preliminary rounds of the competition will run for the next three weekends, with the Semifinals and Finals scheduled for May 6th and 7th, respectively. The top team from each group plus the best overall second-placed team, via Net Run Rate, will make up the final four.
Teams also have the T20 competition further on the horizon and will want to, at least, finish in the top ten spots as the two cellar placed teams will not qualify for the shortest format.
The North Zone Cricket Council is happy to announce that Blue Waters is on board as the official beverage partner for this competition. The Zone looks forward to more corporate support as they plan to outfit all ten teams with uniforms for the T20 tournament in May, along with supplying all the balls, refreshments, umpires, scorers, and the rental and preparation of grounds to be used. The Chairman said the Zone wanted to take some of the pressure and expense off the teams so they will concentrate more on playing the game.
