Trinidad and Tobago's under-19 men's cricketers pulled off an unlikely win to start their Cricket West Indies Rising Stars Men's Under-19 50-over Championships on July 23 when they got a 31-run victory in a low-scoring affair versus the Leeward Islands at Sion Hill Playing Field, St Vincent.
TT finished the truncated Rising Stars Two-day Championships at the foot of the six-team table, and manager Kerwin John said the team was intent on redeeming themselves in the 50-over format.
And after being sent in to bat by skipper Jewel Andrew and the Leewards outfit, TT seemed to be heading towards a disastrous showing when they were skittled out for just 108 after 39.4 overs.
Middle-order batsman Andrew Rambaran (39 off 71 balls) was the only player who made a substantial score for TT, with Fareez Ali (12) and Luke Ali (11) the only other players to get into double figures.
Isra-el Morton (three for 12) was the chief destroyer for the Leewards, and he got the wickets of Rambaran and Fareez in consecutive overs, and also accounted for the scalp of Aaidan Racha (three).
What looked like a comfortable chase for the Leewards on paper, became quite complicated in the first ten overs of the chase as they were reduced to 15 for four after Fareez (three for ten) ripped the top order to shreds with his medium-pace bowling.
The fall of T'yanick Honore's wicket in the tenth over brought the West Indies under-19 pair of Andrew and Nathan Edward together, and they looked destined to steer their team to the modest target with their 50-run stand for the fifth wicket.
Andrew top-scored with an atypical 33 off 65 balls, with Edward adding 15 off 47 balls. The game turned on its head when Andrew was dismissed by leg-spinner Aneal Rooplal (one for 15) in the 23rd over, though, and Edward fell in the very next over to off-spinner Joshua Davis as the Leewards slipped from 65 for four to 66 for six in the space of six deliveries.
The Davis carnage was only just beginning, and the Fatima College standout got the wickets of Morton (duck) and Micah McKenzie (six) in his next two overs to reduce Leewards to 73 for eight in the 28th over before a shower interrupted play for roughly 40-45 minutes.
Upon the resumption of play, the Davis show continued when he got the wickets of the last two batsmen Mekaili Tonge and Curdel Crooke to finish with the impeccable figures of five for 20 as TT defended the 108-run total in style. Crooked offered a meek swipe at a flighted Davis delivery, with wicket-keeper Kyle Ramdoo gleefully taking an easy running catch.
On July 24, TT will aim to land another victory when they tackle newly crowned two-day champions Barbados in Arnos Vale, Kingstown from 9.30 am.
Barbados played hosts Windward Islands in their first game of the 50-over tourney in Colonarie on July 23, but rain forced a no result. Windwards were bowled out for 192 from 47.4 overs, with Barbados speeding to 72 for two from 10.1 overs before bad weather had the final say.
Summarised Scores:
GUYANA: 175 from 49.
