ANOTHER FIVE-WICKET haul from a TT Under-17 cricketer, this time Aaidan Racha, helped the home team pull off the only win in the first round of the Cricket West Indies Rising Stars Under-17 two-day tournament at the Inshan Ali Park in Preysal on Thursday. With the victory, TT took the lead in the tournanent with two rounds remaining.
Before Racha destroyed the Leeward Islands in their second innings, TT added 58 more runs in the morning session in their first innings. Resuming the day on 142/4, TT declared on 200/9.
TT did not seem likely to reach 200, but the last wicket pair of Alexander Chase and Aneal Rooplal added more than 20 runs for the final wicket. The partnership was key as it helped TT earn a bonus point for scoring 200. Earlier in the innings, Luke Ali and Brendan Boodoo struck 47 and 44 respectively.
Bowling for the Leewards, Ozan Williams took 5/60 and Isra-el Morton picked up 3/40.
It was a nightmare for the Leewards in their second innings as they were skittled out for just 64. Medium pacer Racha, who took 3/21 in the first innings, snatched 5/11 to cause problems for the Leeward Islands batsmen. Christian Rampersad was also a handful with the ball, bagging 2/11.
Xaveek Toppin was the top scorer for Leewards with 19, but it was not enough as TT completed a victory by an innings and 63 runs.
TT head coach David Furlonge said, "All the bowlers played their part. Yes Racha got five and (Ishmael) Ali got five, but I think all the bowlers were excellent," he said.
No TT batsman got to 50 during the match after getting starts. Furlonge is encouraging the batsmen to capitalise on their starts, saying, "It is good to see, but as we told them they can't be happy with forties or thirties...we would like to see somebody in the next two games go on and get at least one or two hundreds."
In other matches, Barbados and Windward Islands played to a draw at Gilbert Park in California and the contest between Jamaica and Guyana also ended in a draw at the National Cricket Centre in Couva.
Round two will bowl off at 10 am on Saturday.
Summarised Scores:
BARBADOS 213 (Reviera Cottle 35, Gadson Bowens 31; Khan Elcock 3/23, Kirt Murray 3/36) & 30/1 (Jaden Webster 14 not out) vs WINDWARD ISLANDS 210 (Kristen Murray 40, Khan Elcock 23; Xuandre Baptiste 3/23, Zishan Motara 3/57) Match Drawn.
TT 200/9 dec. (Luke Ali 47, Brendan Boodoo 44; Ozan Williams 5/60, Isra-el Morton 3/40) vs LEEWARD ISLANDS 73 (Carlton Pluck 22, T'yanick Honore 16; Ishmael Ali 5/16, Aaidan Racha 3/21) & 64 (Xaveek Toppin 19, Matthew Miller 12; Aaidan Racha 5/11, Cristian Rampersad 2/11) TT won by an innings and 63 runs.
JAMAICA 200/9 dec. (Brian Barnes 114, Jordan Pinnock 22; Matthew Pottaya 3/32, Bruce Vincent 2/34) & 36/0 (Tyriek Bryan 21 not out, Kev'Aundre Virgo 14 not out) vs GUYANA 202/8 dec. (Jonathan Van Lange 91, Romeo Deonarin 36 not out; O'mari Wedderburn 3/32, Kev'Aundre Virgo 2/20) Match Drawn.
Round two fixtures:
TT vs Jamaica, PowerGen Penal Sports Club
Leeward Islands vs Barbados, Inshan A
