North Zone champions El Socorro Youth Movement (EYM) will battle the University of the West Indies Cricket Club for a place in the Premiership II Division this weekend at Knowles Street Recreation Ground, Curepe.
EYM stormed to the North Zone league title in March, raiding 161 points for the season to finish 73 points ahead of North Side Future Stars.
The El Socorro club was demoted from Premiership II in 2023 after a 10-year stay within the top two leagues in national club competition.
EYM face a UWICC team that garnered 122 points in the table, finishing 14 points ahead of second-placed, Fulham Sports Club of Arima.
EYM President Ismahieel Ali said his organization is prepared and confident going into their play-off match against UWI.
Ali, who ironically played for UWI a decade ago, praised the club’s achievements under the presidency of Dr Earl Ottley.
“UWI has done excellent under Dr Ottley to get to be champions in the East Zone. They rightfully should be playing against us. We definitely have to take it game by game, session by session tomorrow,” he said.
“As for the team, it is another game. It is a final, yes, but the guys are prepared as with any other game they have gone into. They have practiced at length this week and they are mentally prepared to face the opposition,” Ali added.
Ali said his team and the community were hurt by their demotion from Premiership II in 2023 and are fired up to regain promotion.
“I think the team itself was hurting from going down last season and they very well know what it means to the community, what it means to us as a group. We pride ourselves on being the best in San Juan and that is not something we take lightly,” he said.
“The team, the supporters, the sponsors, et cetera, knows what is riding on this game. It is something that I think everyone is building themselves up to in trying to get over,” Ali added.
Ali said after the team was demoted, it took a concerted club and community effort to get them back on the road to getting the opportunity for promotion.
“For us, going back to the North Zone, it started with the community working to get the team back. It’s been a complete community and club initiative. Some of the players from the past in the club. I would have reached out to them as President to be able to assist and they did so willingly,” he said.
“We were focused from day one of our pre-season, which started in November last year, and the goal was to get to this stage, to the playoff game, to be able to win. This game was pivotal for us in getting back to where we think we belong, in the Premiership,” Ali added.
“It is definitely something that we are striving for because we do think the community and the club deserves it, and it is where we belong.”
EYM won five of their matches in the 2024 North Zone league and won the other two on first innings in their romp to the title.
Reflecting on their stellar performance, Ali said the EYM team came into the season expecting to dominate.
“We knew the ability of the team and we knew what we fell short of last year. One of the tag lines I have been saying since Day one of pre-season is that the teams that we meet in North Zone are “Hi and Goodbye.” We don’t expect to see them again next year as professional as North Zone has been to us, and very good to us in getting our team prepared,” he said.
“It’s definitely something that we thought it was a one-off event. I can definitely say that the team was mentally prepared. We took one game at a time and the opposition that came up against us, they were competitive. I think we backed our ability and our strengths and we played towards it,” Ali added.
EYM’s two-day play-off match with UWI begins at noon on Saturday at Knowles Street Recreation Ground, Curepe.
