Merryboys begin title defence today

Two-time defending national cricket champions Ceramic Trinidad Merryboys will open their title defence against Clico Preysal today at the Diego Martin Recreation Ground.

The Patna team, who have won the title in 2002 and 2003, will be aiming to get off to a good start at home. They will be heavily dependent on talented all-rounder Richard Kelly, who has been in tremendous form this season. Earlier this week he scored 85 against Moosai’s in the Carib Shield and will be looking to continue in the same vein today. Lincoln Roberts is another player who will have to carry a lot of the batting, as is skipper and mainstay Aneil Kanhai. The Trinidad and Tobago batsman scored a century against Jamaica in the recent Carib Beer Series regional tournament to underline his class as a middle-order batsman. However Merryboys will be up against a very tough Preysal team playing at home. Led by Shazam Babwah, Preysal have some very promising players in their ranks and although they are missing Ravi Rampaul and Dinesh Ramdin, still have former West Indies pacer Marlon Black to fall back on, together with the veteran Eugene Antoine.

Their main trump card however will be Barbadian Ryan Hurley who has made the national league his, with tremendous performances with bat and ball. Last year’s runners-up First Citizens Clarke Road United, will take on crosstown rivals PowerGen Sports at the Wilson Road round. Clarke Road will be keen to exact revenge on PowerGen who  defeated them in the semi-finals of the Carib Sunday League last week at Gilbert Park, California. Both teams will be strengthened by their regional players. For Clarke Road, Damodar Dasrath is back in their ranks. The all-rounder who enjoyed a very prolific first regional season with Guyana will lend strength to the Greenbacks batting as well as bowling attacks. PowerGen on the other hand, have the in-form Dave Mohammed who took six wickets for 21runs against Clarke Road last week and Trinidad and Tobago’s most successful bowler in the regional series Amit Jaggernauth. The player dubbed the “mystery spinner” grabbed 30 wickets for Trinidad and Tobago and will be out to tumble Clarke Road.

Newly promoted Transbrokerage Couva will make their debut in the big league against Queen’s Park at the Oval in Port-of-Spain. Both teams have had up and down performances this season and will be looking to make a good start to the league. Couva will be heavily dependent on veteran batting machine Deonarine Deyal, while Brent Augustus is the key man for the Parkites. The fourth match will pit Tile It Central Sports against Alescon Comet at Pierre Road, Charlieville in battle to determine the top team in central. While Comet have some very prominent names in their line-up, Tile It Central Sports sport a young determined team and will prove hard to dominate today. Leading the charge for Central Sports will be Guyanese player Lennox Cush, who has had an outstanding season to date.

In Division Two, favourites to clinch the title are W-Connection Wanderers and they open their campaign against Aranguez Sports club at Gilbert Park. Wanderers narrowly lost out to Comet for a place in the finals of the Sunday League and will be going all out today to make Aranguez pay. The Wanderers now in the re-building phase have some very talented young players and are favoured to win this first encounter. Police Sports will take on Las Lomas at the St James Barracks, Moosai’s comes up against Mayo Valleyboys at Honeymoon Park and promoted Green Arrow take on Munroe Road at Mt Stewart Village. Munroe Road are tipped to walk away with the honours, with Guyanese wicketkeeper Asib Ali-Hannif and home bred Adesh Dass in their line-up. All matches are of two-day duration and get underway at 10 am.

CARIB NATIONAL LEAGUE
DIVISION ONE
Ceramic Trinidad Merryboys vs Clico Preysal at Inshan Ali Park — Umpires: C Basdeo, R Richards.
FCB Clarke Road vs PowerGen at Syne Village — Umpires: K Dowlath, H Rajkumar.
Alescon Comet vs Tile It Central Sports at Pierre Road — Umpires: S Gibson, H Bruce.
QPCC vs Transbrokerage Couva Sports at the Oval —Umpires B Sahadeo, S Hosein.
CARIB NATIONAL LEAGUE
 DIVISION II
Police vs Las Lomas at the Barracks — Umpires: G Hodge, G Hendrickson.
Wanderers vs Aranguez at Gilbert Park — Umpires: P Deobarran, D Joseph.
Moosai vs Mayo at Honeymoon Park — Umpires: P Galindo, P Nero.
Green Arrow vs Munroe Road at Mt.Stewart — Umpires: A Dowlath, F Dookie.
CARIB NATIONAL RESERVE LEAGUE I
Central Sports vs Comet at Presentation College.
Couva vs QPCC at Couva Junior Secondary.
Preysal vs Merryboys at Inshan Ali Park.
PowerGen vs FCB Clarke Road at Syne Village.
CARIB NATIONAL RESERVE LEAGUE II
Las Lomas vs Police at Las Lomas.
Aranguez vs Wanderers at Aranguez.
Mayo vs Moosai’s at Union Hall.
Munroe Road vs Green Arrow at Munroe Road.