The Central Zone under-17 team held their nerve at the death as they got an exciting two-run win over the East Zone in the final of the TT Cricket Board's (TTCB) interzone 50-over tournament at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva on Friday.
Batting first, Central posted a modest score of 217 for eight in their allotted 50 overs, with Presentation College Chaguanas star Jayden Joseph top-scoring with 58 off 83 balls. Middle-order batsmen Aaron Basant and Christiano Ramanan chipped in with 36 and 28 respectively, and they put together a healthy 52-run stand for the sixth wicket before the former was run out by Joseph Mendoza in the 45th over with their team's score on 179 for six.
Central's number-nine batsman Aleem Nabbie made a brisk 22 not out off 13 balls with a four and a six to give his team a grandstand finish.
Qudeer Juman led the East attack with figures of two for 29, while Alejandro Kassiram took two for 41.
[caption id="attachment_1075315" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Jayden Joseph of the Central team hits a boundry in the Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board interzone under-17 final against East Zone at the National Cricket Centre, Couva on Friday. - Angelo Marcelle[/caption]
In their turn at the crease, the East team got starts from several players as seven batsmen got past 20 runs. However, their valiant effort came unstuck in the very last over of the game as they were bowled out for 215 from 49.1 overs when lower-order batsman Jesse Sookwah (25 off 23 balls) was clean-bowled by Fareez Ali to give Central the crown.
In a tense finish, East were placed on 184 for eight in the 44th over after the dismissal of Renaldo Fournillier (32 off 27 balls). At that stage, East needed 34 runs off 37 balls to claim the win. They appeared to be inching toward the target with a 27-run stand for the ninth wicket between Sookwah and Zameer Ali (five) before the latter was dismissed by Darius Batoosingh (two for 26) to leave the score on 211 for nine after 48.2 overs, leaving East with seven to get off the last ten balls.
With just three more runs needed for victory at the start of the last over, captain Fareez stole East's joy when he uprooted Sookwah's stumps to end the contest. Opener Samir Saroop top-scored for East with 33.
Summarised Scores:
CENTRAL: 217/8 from 50 overs (Jayden Joseph 56, Aaron Basant 36; Qudeer Juman 2/29, Alejandro Kassiram 2/41) vs EAST: 215 all out from 50 overs (Samir Saroop 33, Renaldo Fournillier 32; Darius Batoosingh 2/26, Kyle Ramesar 2/56). Central won by two runs.
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