Under-19s roll into TCL Group cricket final

GEORGETOWN: Trinidad and Tobago reached the final of the limited-overs competition in the TCL Group West Indies Under-19 Cricket Challenge when they rolled over Barbados by four wickets in their semi-final yesterday. Choosing to bat, Barbados were bowled out for a modest 114 off 49.5 overs at Enmore, before TT cruised to their victory target for the loss of six wickets in 33.3 overs to set up today’s final against Guyana/Windward Islands. The Barbados top order batting once more failed to click. Once they lost opening batsman Martin Nurse, their captain and star bat, as well as Omar Phillips inside the first half hour, the West Indies Under-19 three-day title-holders never came to grips with the TT bowling.

Renaldo Parris, a left-handed opening batsman, hit the top score of 47 for the Barbadians, whose only other double figure contribution came from fast bowler Barrington Yearwood with 19. Medium-paced bowler Kevish Kantasingh was again the TT bowling hero with four wickets for 26 runs from his allotment of 10 overs. He gained admirable support from Ravi Rampaul with two for 16 from 7.5 overs, while Capil Subran and Rishi Baichan returned the excellent figures of 10-2-13-1 and 10-4-9-1respectively. Blessed with an opening stand of 50 between Aaron Ragoonath, whose 35 was the top score, and Tishan Maraj with 15, TT were destined to win. They had a few hiccups along the way, but they kept their composure to complete a convincing win over the Barbadians. Barbados will now be looking to today’s third-place playoff against Guyana/Windward Islands to regain some of their lost pride.