Under-19s bask in TCL glory

Led by Jason Mohammed, the Trinidad and Tobago team yesterday crushed Barbados by 44 runs in the final of the Knock-Out limited overs competition at the Arnos Vale Playing Field in Kingstown.

On Tuesday they comprehensively whipped the Barbadians by 122 runs on the fourth and final day of the league final at the same venue.

Yesterday Trinidad and Tobago, batting first were dismissed for 145 in 47.1 overs with star batsman Adrian Barath topscoring with 42.

He was well supported by Kieron Pollard who made 29 and Deon Bennett with 15.

For the Barbadians, Jevon Searles took four wickets for 30 runs while Kemar Roach had figures of two for 35.

In their turn at the crease Barbados, once again found the going tough against the Trinidad and Tobago bowlers and were routed for 101with Marlon Barclay capturing four for 11 and Sunil Narine grabbing three for 23.

For his determined batting Barath was selected as "Man-of-the-Match." Narine was voted "Best Bowler" and Pollard was given the "Best Fieldsman" prize.

It is only the second time that a team has captured both trophies in the regional TCL Under-19 Challenge and both are incidentally from Trinidad and Tobago.

Manager of the Trinidad and Tobago team Roland Sampath now has the unique record of being at the head of both teams to capture both the league and knock-out competitions in the same tournament.

Two years ago Sampath, a former outstanding allrounder managed the team which won the double-crown when the contest was staged in Guyana.

In that team were fast bowlers Ravi Rampaul, wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin and Lendl Simmons who all went on to represent the West Indies at senior and "A" level. But this year, it was the spin bowlers who revelled in the conditions of the SVG pitches.

And last night spinner Sunil Narine was duly expected to be named "Most Valuable Player" of the tournament after his haul of 31 wickets in the league competition.

His team-mate Rishi Bachan also made a big impression bagging 25 scalps.

Yesterday Sampath said he was very pleased with the team’s performance overall but was disappointed that Barath was not selected on the squad of 20 picked after the TCL Under-19 Challenge.

"He was the batsman of the tournament. There is no doubt about that. But for some reason he could not get selected on the All Star squad. I am not pleased with this at all," said a concerned Sampath.

Trinidad and Tobago secured five picks on the elite squad— Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, William Perkins, Rishi Bachan, and Tyrone Pollard. Speaking to WMJX radio station in Port-of-Spain yesterday, coach of the team Tony Gray said that he felt the Barbadians did not cope too well with the pressure of playing against consistently good bowling. "Besides we were better prepared," the former Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies fast bowler told WMJX. When asked to pick the team’s outstanding player of the tournament, he said it was very difficult but when pressed offered Barath’s name.

"It was very difficult to score runs at the tournament especially with the heavy outfields. But Barath made runs with his gritty and determined application," said Gray.