OUTGOING West Indies Rising Stars under-15 championship winners TT ended their 2024 campaign with a second straight victory, as they thumped Jamaica by eight wickets at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua on Wednesday.
The Jamaican team entered the final round of the competition on the back of four consecutive losses, and their fortunes didn’t improve against TT as they were bowled out for a paltry score of 101 before their opponents raced to the target in just 19 overs.
TT’s seam pair of Aarion Mohammed (four for 17) and Aaden Owen (three for 14) proved to be too strong for the Jamaican batting order and they paved the way for a facile victory for captain Zane Maraj’s team.
Taking first strike, the Jamaican batsmen seemed to be at sea against Mohammed’s left-arm bowling, and the lanky pacer used his swing to good effect to put the opposition on the back foot early on.
Mohammed got a wicket with his very first ball when he trapped Abraham Waugh (one) LBW, and the Jamaican team was struggling at 16/4 by the 12th over after two further strikes by Mohammed. Owen got his first wicket in the seventh over when he had Tyson Gordon (one) brilliantly caught at first slip by Tariq Richards.
Jamaica progressed to 41 for five after 17.4 overs when Romareo Salmon (six) was dismissed by Ra’ed Ali Khan.
Jamaica skipper Demario Hall (50) and Jaheim Frater (19) tried to correct the slide, and they put together a 42-run stand for the sixth wicket before the latter offered a simple return catch to Maraj in the 30th over as their team slipped to 83 for six.
The TT bowlers made light work of the remaining batsmen as Maraj (two for 16) picked up another wicket, while Mohammed and Owen returned to clean up the tail as they finished the tournament with a combined 18 wickets. Hall, who struck five boundaries in his patient 104-ball innings, was the last player to be dismissed when he was bamboozled by a slower ball by Owen.
The Jamaican team would have needed early wickets to get an unlikely win, and they got what the doctor ordered as TT were on 30 for two in the fifth over after the dismissals of Sachin Nandlal (five) and K’Hill Thomas (six).
Maraj and opening batsman Zakariyya Mohammed were in no mood to roll over, though, and they put the opposition out of their misery with an unbeaten 72-run stand for the third wicket. Maraj struck two boundaries in his unbeaten 32 off 55 balls, while the stylish Zakariyya (29 not out off 44 balls) complemented his skipper nicely with three boundaries in his knock.
In quite authoritative manner, Maraj got his team over the line at the end of the 19th over when he slammed a Jahdai Gray delivery over the mid-on fielder and into the boundary.
TT’s tourney started with a no-result against Windward Islands on March 26. The young Red Force team then lost to frontrunners Guyana and Barbados in their next two matches before closing out their campaign with victories against Leeward Islands and Jamaica. Both Guyana and Barbados ended the tournament with four wins, and their fight for
