Central upset East to reach Shell U-15 final

Their comfortable six-wicket victory at the National Cricket Centre Ground in Balmain, Couva sets up an exciting clash for the title with South Zone on Wednesday at the same venue from 9.30 am.On Wednesday, South Zone scored an emphatic eight-wicket victory over North to book their place in the Under-15 championship match for the second straight year.

East Zone, put into bat by Central on Thursday, struggled against Central’s co-ordinated bowling attack and scrambled to 111 in 39.3 overs, with 36 extras claiming the dubious distinction of topping the scorecard.

Only Shazad Mohammed (19 not out), opener Alexander Kassiram (15), Giovanni Gajadhar (14) and Jabari Phillip (12) got into double figures but their fighting effort on a true, hard wicket failed to set their opponents a challenging total.

Man-of-the-Match Rahul Pitiram, Rajeev Ramnath and Daniel Fletcher combined well to claim two wickets apiece, while Shasri Maharaj, Nyron Boodram and Amrit Dass took one each to crown off an impressive bowling performance by the Central youngsters. Pitiram showed his allround ability in scoring an undefeated 43 to lead a successful run chase as Central reached 112 for the loss of four wickets in 28.4 overs, and he received valuable support from Isaac Ramrattan (25 not out) as the pair put on a match-winning partnership of 74 runs for the fifth wicket.

Again, extras featured prominently on the scorecard as East gave away 34, including 29 wides which did their effort no favours, especially after posting a disappointing total taking first strike.

Jabari Phillip, Abdur Rahaman, Giovanni Gajadhar, and Andrew Rambaran led an unlikely fightback by taking one wicket each but in the end, they found their team’s low score indefensible.