U-19s eye historic double

GEORGETOWN: Reigning TCL Group Under-19 one-day champions Trinidad and Tobago will aim for a historic double, when they clash with the Windward Islands in the three-day cricket final today at Bourda. Trinidad, the only unbeaten team in the competition, won all three matches against the Windwards — two one-dayers and a three-day match — and hold the psychological advantage. The Windwards won their only three-day title at this level in 2000 and will want to turn around the result of the 2003 one-day final when they lost to Trinidad, who have not won the three-day Under-19 title since .

Brian Lara led them to victory in Jamaica in 1987. Windwards’ skipper, Liam Sebastien, is the leading wicket taker in the competition with 25 wickets, which include four five wicket hauls with his off-spin. He is also the leading run scorer for the Windwards. Sebastien believes the earlier defeats in the competition to Trinidad and Tobago will motivate his players. He says Trinidad and Tobago, who beat Barbados in the semi-finals, depend a lot on First Class pacer Ravi Rampual. Their plan is to restrict the fast bowler, who holds the regional Under-19 record for taking all ten wickets in an innings (10-6 vs ROA last year). Trinidad and Tobago have the tournament’s leading run scorer, wicket-keeper Denish Ramdin, who is one of three Trinidadians to score centuries in the competition. The others are Lendl Sim-mons and captain Tishan Maraj. Coach of the Trinidad and Tobago team, Anthony Gray, the former West Ind-ies pacer, thinks his side holds the advantage in the encounter.Since regional Under-19 one-day cricket was added to the three-day competition in 1999, no team has won the double and Trinidad and Tobago, with seven titles at this level, will be aiming to make history.