Wanderers, Preysal in key clash

BOOSTED by their sensational victory over Division One champions FCB Clarke Road United over the weekend, W-Connection Wanderers take aim on archrivals Clico Preysal when they meet today in the Carib Shield Group “C” key third round match at Gilbert Park, California. Wanderers’ opening pair of William Perkins and Loknauth Ramsuchit has been at the heart of most of the Couva-based team successes in the last two years. They will bloster optimism that Wanderers will be able to topple Preysal in this encounter. The winners will top Group “C” and cop a place in the quarter-finals. Should Wanderers bat first today, they would expect both Perkins and Ramsuchit to continue their prolific form. But they can also depend on Narine Bidhesi, skipper Joel Pamphille, Sanjeev Gooljar and Kishore Lalchan.

But Preysal will also be fancy- ing their chances with Shazam Babwah, Keshava Ramphal, Aaron Ragoonath, Lyndon James, Kwesi Roy and Eugene Antoine showing excellent form. There are two other key matches which will determine group winners. Ceramic Merry Boys will travel to the Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain for a Group “A” clash with Queen’s Park. This should be an interesting encounter with Merry Boys favoured. In their line-up are skipper Lincoln Roberts, Aneil Kanhai, Mario Belcon and Clifton Halls. Their bowling is spearheaded by former Test pacer Marlon Black, Dale Douglas, Ryan Best and left-arm spinner Ken Hazel potent enough to stifle the youthful Parkites.

Jonathan Augustus and fellow teenagers Kierron Pollard, Samuel Felix, Petrock Nicholas, Rishard Harris and Shakeel Ali have all contributed in some measure to the recent successes. They will have the added support and experience of Ricardo Paty and Barbadian Test player Vasbert Drakes. In the Group “B” feature match, Tile It Central Sports will tangle with central neighbours Alescon Comet at the Presentation College, Chaguanas ground. Both teams won their first two rounds so the winner of this decisive round will give home advantage for the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, PowerGen are highly favoured to win their Group “D” match against Couva Sports but FCB Clarke Road need to regroup when they host Mayo Valley Boys at Wilson Road in Penal. Mahadeo Bodoe and his boys must win to secure the other group’s qualifying quarter-final berth. Play starts at 4 pm and all matches conclude tomorrow.

Carib Shield Third Round Fixture.
Group “A” —
QPCC vs Ceramic Merry Boys, Diego Martin (M. Miller, Harry Rajkumar); Moosai’s Sports vs BA Aranguez, Honeymoon Park (S. Ramsahai, R. Jagroop).
Group “B”—
 Las Lomas vs Defence Force (E. Johnson, Clyde Cumberbatch) Central Sports vs Alescon Comet, Pres, Chaguanas (Terrence Birbal, K. Barrasingha)
Group “C” —
Wanderers vs Clico Preysal, Gilbert Park (Kasso Dowlath, Shaheed Allaham); Invaders vs Joe Public Munroe Road, Felicity (Zainool Maccum, Anthony Creed).
Group “D” —
 Clarke Road vs Mayo Valley Boys, Wilson Road (Desmond Geoffrey, S. Gangaram); PowerGen vs Couva Sports, Syne Village (Harold Ramjattan, Balram Ramdihal).