Central Zone U19s crush South-West
Saturday, March 26 2016
OF F - SP I N N E R Shadell Soogrim bowled Central Zone to a crushing victory over South-West by an innings and 70 runs with time to spare in the first round match of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board Under-19 Inter Zone competition which ended on Thursday.
Soogrim grabbed six wickets for 22 runs in ten overs, which included one maiden, as South-West Zone crumbled to 121 in 42.2 overs in their second innings, after being tumbled out for a paltry 50 taking first knock at Invaders Ground in Felicity.
Central Zone had earlier posted 341 all out in 70 overs on Thursday, continuing from their 332 for nine overnight, with Nathaneal Ramcharitar remaining undefeated on 87.
Seeking to make Central bat a second time, the South-West batsmen folded with only Ronnie Goddard (31) and Kareem Hamilton (23) offering any resistance to the rampant Soogrim and Emilo Gopaul, who took two wickets for 25 in 9.2 overs, which contained two maidens.
D efending champions North Zone were denied victory at the Barataria Oval, as North-East hung for a hard-earned draw.
Set 227 to win, the north-easterners ended on 65 for nine with Kristof Lewis top-scoring with 21 and Amrit Kistow finishing undefeated on 19.
Their chief tormentor was Jonathan Bootan who wrecked the North-East innings with an incredible spell of six wickets for nine runs in nine overs with two maidens to propel North Zone to the brink of what would have been a well-deserved win.
North had made 299 all out in their first innings, and North East, 40 for the loss of one wicket overnight, were eventually dismissed for 168 in 54 overs, with Kerron Persad (36), Lewis (35), the top batsman, and Justin Vialva, their No 10, slamming a quick-fire 22 in 14 balls.
Sharing the spoils were North Zone bowlers Bootan (17-3-25-3), Anand Lochan (7.2-1- 18-2) and Cavon Bryne (9-1-24-2).
In an effort to force an outright victory on the final day, North Zone 61 runs ahead, extended the lead to 157, in declaring their second innings closed at 96 for seven declared.
Dexter Sween, a relative of West Indies players, Dwayne and Darren Bravo, made 35 and Wendell George contributed 12, as Darron Sooklal captured four wickets for 32 runs, and Kistow continued a fine all-round performance snaring three for 34.
However North-East, facing an uphill task, with time running out on North Zone, held out for a memorable escape from the clutches of defeat, denying the reigning champions a winning start to their 2016 campaign.
The other match of the opening round, featuring South Zone against South-East ended in a tame draw at PowerGen Ground in Penal with only one innings completed after an hour was lost because of rain on the opening day on Wednesday.
