EX-NATIONAL spinner Premnath Ramnath turned back the clock last weekend with an incisive spell of bowling against Invaders in the Chifeez Super League cricket series at Balmain Village, Couva.
Balmain batted first and scored 162 with Bobby Sookoo getting a top-score 35. Invaders fell 11 runs short of their opponents’ first innings total thanks to a brilliant spell of leg-spin bowling from Ramnath who grabbed seven wickets for 47 runs. In their second knock, Balmain reached 193 with Ramnath contributing 35 but the game ended in a draw. In the Southern Super League, former Central Sports player Ralston Singh was in fine form as Rousillac and Yorkshire also played to a draw at Cunjal. Singh cracked 81 in his team’s first innings score of 192 for eight declared. Yorkshire in reply were routed for 88 with Sunil Ramkumarsingh taking three for 30. Rousillac declared their second innings at 90 for four in a bid to force an outright win, but their efforts proved futile as Yorkshire reached 130 for seven by close.
Scores:
Nothern Super League – At Chaguaramas – DEFENCE FORCE 251 and 142/7 declared vs CUNARIPO 160 and 104.
At Arouca – PRISONS 182 & 67/4 declared vs HARVARD 218/8 declared and 29/1.
Central Super League: At Las Lomas – LAS LOMAS 294 vs PREYSAL VALLEYBOYS 97 and 134.
At Balmain – BALMAIN UTD 162 – Mukesh Boodoosingh 33, Bobby Sookoo 35, and 193 – Bobby Sookoo 38, Premnath Ramnath 35 vs INVADERS 153 – Premnath Ramnath 7/47.
At Charlieville – SUPERSONICS 231 – Victor Baptiste 44, Larry Kowlessar 4/55 and 66 – Larry Kowlessar 5/13, Faizul Danny 3/18 vs CARONI CONQUERORS 160 – Dave Elcock 35, Kaimraj Kamachee 3/45 and 138/5 – Dave Elcock 52 not out, Kishore Ragoonath 27.
At Enterprise – ESPERANZA 89/9 declaresd and 43/6 vs ESMERALDA 73. NB – the players off Esperanze protested against umpire Ramesh Bahal and walked off the field, rendering the game a draw.
SOUTHERN SUPERLEAGUE
At Cunjal: Rousillac 192/8 dec (Ralston Singh 81, Wendell Alleyne 4/30) & 90/4 dec (Kevin Attaraj 55) drew with Yorkshire 88 (Sunil Ramkumarsingh 3/30, Ralston Singh 2/12) & 130/7).
At Pleasantville: Juniors 127 & 116 drew with Valiants 88 (Kevin Redhead 6/27) & 104/4 – by 6 wkts.
PROLIFIC goalscorer Dillette Gilkes netted a hat-trick as Paragon whipped Carib 6-2 at the National Hockey Centre, Tacarigua, on Wednesday night.
Action was in the clash of the lower-placed teams in the Men’s Championship Division of the Trinidad and Tobago Hockey Board’s 2003 season. Gilkes received support from Sherbert McKee, who scored twice, while Ron Alexander added the other goal in the rout. Nigel Simon and Neil Ramsammy were the lone scorers for Carib. In the first match of the double-header, Yesenia Luces struck the backboard twice to lead Ventures to their third win of the season, a 2-0 triumph over the struggling Raiders in the Women’s Championship Division. Leaders Defence Force suffered only their second defeat in the season, with a 3-1 loss to the hands of ‘guest team’ the national women on Tuesday.
Trinidad and Tobago vice-captain Stacey Siu Butt recorded a double with Luces adding the third, while Avanelle Lee was on target for the Army-Coast Guard combination.
FORMER national swimmer Matthew Houllier retained the title as Best Male Swimmer at the West Virginia Intercollegiate Conference Championships in Ohio, USA recently.
The 21-year-old student of the Wheeling Jesuit University shared the accolade with schoolmate Paul Morgan after recording victories in the 100-yard butterfly, the 200-yard butterfly and 400-yard individual medley. The ex-St Mary’s College student will return to the pool next month for the NCAA Championships where he will participate in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly races. Houllier is the holder of ten national long course records during his days at the Marlins Swim Club in Westmoorings. Among his records, in the 11-12 age group, are the 800-metre freestyle in nine minutes 34.53 seconds and the 1,500m freestyle in 18 minutes 52.63 seconds.
His other national best times were set in the nine-ten age group — 50m free (29.03 seconds), 100m free (1:03.99), 200m free (2:23.87), 50m backstroke (34.25 sec), 100m backstroke (1:16.05), 50m butterfly (30.53 sec), 100m butterfly (1:12.24) and 200m individual medley (2:38.88).
POTCHEFSTROOM: Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath spearheaded a record-breaking 256-run World Cup demolition of minnows Namibia in Potchefstroom yesterday.
McGrath took a tournament-record seven for 15 as Australia dismissed Namibia for 45 chasing 302, the biggest winning margin in the history of the World Cup. McGrath eclipsed the previous best of seven for 51 set by West Indies’ Winston Davis against Australia at Headingley in 1983. McGrath was one wicket away from the all-time one-day record of eight for 19, including a hat-trick, set by Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas against Zimbabwe in 2002. The previous highest winning margin was England’s 202-run victory against India at Lord’s in 1975.
Australia’s latest victory equalled the record of 11 straight one-day wins set by Clive Lloyd’s West Indies between 1984 and 1985. Captain Ricky Ponting’s side can claim the outright record with victory against England in their next match at Port Elizabeth on Sunday.
Not to be outdone, Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist also set a new World Cup mark with six catches in a match. And batsman Darren Lehmann smashed 28 runs in a single over, another World Cup first, bettering Brian Lara’s 26 for West Indies against Canada last week.
“Records are great, they are a pat on the back, but when you are out there playing it doesn’t matter,” said Lehmann. “We have not been all that prominent in individual statistics tables before today and that is the sign of a good team. Records are nice but our aim is more on winning our next match.” But while the Australians were making history, Namibia bowler Rudi van Vuuren was demonstrating the difference in class between the two sides.
He went for nought for 92 off 10 overs, fourth on the all-time worst one-day bowling-figure list behind New Zealand’s Martin Snedden, and Sri Lanka pair Ashantha De Mel and Sanath Jayasuriya. The Kiwi went for 105-2 off 12 overs against England in 1983. Namibia’s total of 45 from 14 overs was the second lowest score in World Cup history and the fourth worst in all one-day internationals. The lowest World Cup score was made last week in Paarl when Canada were dismissed by Sri Lanka for just 36.
Highest World Cup Victory Margins:
Margin Match
256 runs Australia beat Namibia, Potchefstroom, 2003
245 runs Sri Lanka beat India, Sharjah, 2000/01
233 runs Pakistan beat Bangladesh, Dhaka, 1999/00
232 runs Australia beat Sri Lanka, Adelaide, 1984/85
224 runs Australia beat Pakistan, Nairobi, 2002/03
Best World Cup bowling:
Glenn McGrath 7-15 v Namibia (Potchefstroom 2003)
Winston Davis 7-51 v Australia (Headingley 1975)
Gary Gilmour 6-14 v England (Headingley 1975)
Ashish Nehra 6-23 v England (Durban 2003)
Chaminda Vaas 6-25 v Bangladesh (Pietermaritzburg 2003)
KINGSTON: West Indies wicketkeeping great Jeffery Dujon, has reiterated calls for fastbowler Jermaine Lawson to be included in the West Indies line-up for their crucial World Cup clash against Sri Lanka today.
Dujon, who is of the belief that Lawson cannot do a worse job than the bowlers that have been used in the tournament so far, wants the young Jamaican pacer included in the starting XI, because of his sheer pace and ability to take wickets. “To me I don’t think our bowling is settling down and it is time for Lawson. The attack definitely doesn’t look stable and my question has always been, ‘why take someone like Lawson, who has delivered every time he touches the field, and do not play him?’ What is he going to come out of that with?” Dujon asked. The former Windies batting stylist thinks the West Indies batting is as good as any other team in the tournament. However, he maintains that it doesn’t matter whom the selectors rest, since Lawson deserved to play and could well turn out to be the “answer” to the team’s bowling problems.
“The batting is something that is open to questions as to whether changes should to be made. I think we need more solid starts … and somehow need to get Marlon (Samuels) in.” “Jermaine’s extra pace, and the fact that he has a lot of desire to do well, should be reasons for his inclusion now, given the (bowling) disappointments so far,” he said. According to Dujon, who has played in the World Cup, despite the closeness of the teams in the group, he believes the West Indies will advance to the Super Sixes. He said all they have to do is bat the “shell-shocked” Sri Lankans out of the game, and bowl tidily. “I think we have played well enough in spurts to do it. If we can capitalise on the fact that obviously their confidence must be a bit shaken after the loss to Kenya, and get into them early, I think we can do it,” he said. “Our bowling is always going to be our weak link, but I think that we have a very good chance and we have everything to play for. Destiny is on our hands,” he said.
CAPE TOWN: Sri Lanka and West Indies cricket teams will take nothing for granted today when they meet in a crunch World Cup match, both must win to stay in contention.
The unexpected win by Kenya over Sri Lanka has Group B spinning on its head and given host-nation South Africa a new life-line to qualify for the Super Sixes. Of the remaining five Group B matches, Sri Lanka faces the toughest task of qualifying. A victory over either the West Indies or South Africa will guarantee Sanath Jayasuriya’s side a place in the final six. Otherwise, get the calculators out! If Kenya and New Zealand win as expected against Bangladesh and Canada respectively and finish with 16 points each, South Africa and the West Indies must win the last two games before the net-run-rate will decide which top three will qualify.
Two more wins will allow West Indies to finish as group leaders while South Africa will tie with New Zealand and Kenya with 16 points. In the unlikely scenario of Sri Lanka beating both the West Indies and South Africa, the 1996 winners will finish leading the group with 20 points. In which case New Zealand and Kenya will qualify. A defeat in one of the remaining two matches for either West Indies or South Africa will end their respective World Cups. West Indies’ wash out against Bangladesh hurt them a lot after Carl Hooper’s team was forced to share two points each when it looked like winning. Jayasuriya believed the shock in Nairobi was a timely wake up call for the former champions. They they were beginning to lose focus concentrating more on the run rate while the middle-order was neglected.
“We shouldn’t put ourselves under pressure,” Jayasuriya said. “We have played enough cricket between us and we have the experience and we can rise from what happened the other day. “We didn’t expect to lose to Kenya. But it’s history. We have worked a lot on our middle-order batting now by giving them more batting in the nets. They’re not batting well at the moment, they have to accept that.” Jayasuriya said the key to winning against the West Indies will be to do the basics right — bat, bowl, and field.
Teams: SRI LANKA (from) — Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Aravinda De Silva, Russel Arnold, Hashan Tillakaratne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando, Pulasthi Gunaratne, Prabath Nissanka. WEST INDIES (from) — Carl Hooper (capt), Ridley Jacobs, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Mervyn Dillon, Vasbert Drakes, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Brian Lara, Jermaine Lawson, Nixon McLean, Ricardo Powell, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan. Umpires: Srinivas Venkataraghavan, India, and David Orchard, South Africa.
REGIONAL heavyweight champ Kerston Manswell will lead the Trinidad and Tobago team to the Caribbean Amateur Boxing Association (CABA) Championships in Nassau, Bahamas from April 20-27.
The 22-year-old Roxborough-born pugilist is tipped to retain his title, after a successful season last year, which saw him cop the silver medal at both the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England and the CAC Games in El Salvador. The TT team, which features seven juniors and a minimum of ten seniors, was named following the recent National Amateur Championships at the Cosmic Boxing Gym, Battoo Avenue, Marabella. Richard Straker of Sand City Gym was adjudged “Senior Fighter of the Championships” while Tahym Mohammed of Cosmic took the “Best Novice Fighter” award; Leeana Boodram of Phoenix the “Best Female Fighter”; and Josh Walkins the “Most Promising.”
Tigers Boxing Gym was awarded the Overall Winner of the three-day competition, after copping the most points in the Seniors Division with 15 points, followed by Sand City (8), Arima (5) and Cosmic (4). Sand City captured the Novices category with 14 points, one ahead of Biomel with Tigers third on 10 and Cosmic fourth with five. The Trinidad and Tobago team is: Seniors: Manswell (heavyweight), Terrence Wilson (heavyweight), Denzil Salazar (light heavyweight), Simeon Prince (middleweight), Marvin Granum/Jeziel Joseph (welterweight), Michael Springer (light welterweight), Azuka Mayo/Enos Marchand (lightweight), Devon Jones (featherweight), Ryan Persad (bantamweight), Terrence Lokai (flyweight). Juniors: Richard Straker (middleweight), Keston Burton (welterweight), Andrew Fermin (light welterweight), Kirt Blackwell (lightweight), Aaron Hassette (featherweight), Fayam Mohammed (bantamweight), Aaron Cumberbatch (light flyweight). Meanwhile, the Trinidad and Tobago Amateur Boxing Association announced that a 20-man squad will engage in a live-in camp at the Cosmic venue from March 10 to April 15.
The group is Manswell, Salazar, Glenroy Anderson, Klevon Denoon (Tigers); Persad, Jones, Mayo, Mohammed, Cumberbatch (Cosmic); Hassette, Blackwell (St Michael’s School for Boys); Prince, Nigel Edwards (Mandigo Boxing Gym); Marchand, Fermin, Straker (Sand City); Wilson (Arima); Lokai (Revival Boxing Gym); Burton (White Eagle); Nick Boodram (Phoenix).
THE EDITOR: I was so perturbed about this incident that I felt that the public should know about it.
One Sunday morning about four weeks ago I paid a routine visit to an NP Gas Station to fill up with super gasoline. I usually get my engine and transmission oils checked whenever I buy gas at this station about every two weeks. However, after filling my tank a young female attendant bluntly refused to check my oils telling me that I would have to get someone else to do so! I kept very quiet even though I was very upset and made no complaint. However, recently I was talking to a friend of mine who told me that he had a similar experience at the very gas station and when he complained to the supervisor, she condoned the action of the attendant who went on to make some cheeky and outright rude remarks to the enjoyment of the supervisor! He went on to make a complaint to NP Head Office and even though the matter was investigated and found to be true, no disciplinary action was taken against either the supervisor or attendant who continue to work at the gas station. God knows how many more motorists have been treated in this discourteous and very cavalier manner.
It is customary and traditional to extend the simple favour of checking engine oil, transmission, radiator water and battery water levels at all NP gas stations at no extra cost. I would be deeply grateful if NP could further look into this matter so that there is no recurrence. I fear that some hot-headed motorist could easily lose his cool and cause grievous bodily harm to gas station staff. These days with crime being committed with impunity this could be sooner rather than later. Perhaps it is time to privatise some more gas stations.
JAQUES ANDRE
MAINGOT
Woodbrook
THE EDITOR: The number of abortions in Russia has fallen by an astonishing 45 percent in just nine years, 1992-2001. In those same years, Russian women have gained access to modern contraceptives for the first time (Washington Post, February 22).
Use of the pill rose from 12 percent in 1988 to 25 percent by 1997. And reliance on IUDs went from 11 percent in 1988 to 20 percent by 1994. The message is very clear: one way to reduce abortions is to improve access to and knowledge of modern contraceptive methods. Those who oppose modern contraceptives are, intentionally or not, contributing to unwanted pregnancies and abortions. Abortion has been legal in Russia since 1920, except for the Stalinist era, 1936-55, when he made it illegal in an attempt to promote population growth. Abortion became the standard method of fertility regulation in the Soviet Union. Even with the decline in abortions, the average Russian woman has 1.7 abortions for every live birth. One sad legacy of this reliance on abortion is that 13 percent of married couples are infertile and three out of every four cases is attributed to a botched abortion. In the absence of legal abortion that could be properly monitored, we have no idea of the extent to which the substantial infertility here is rooted in our widespread practice of unsafe and unregulated abortions. If we were truly interested in being pro-life, we would learn from the Russian experience by making abortion legal and setting in place the mechanisms for ensuring the proper standards and methods for monitoring that service as we do for other medical care.
JACQUIE BURGESS
ASPIRE
THE EDITOR: I have been meaning to write to the media to voice my deep discontent and amazement over the points gained by the Tropical Angel Harps Steel Orchestra in the National Semi-Finals of the 2003 Panorama. I kept putting this exercise off until I read a letter to the editor by one J Leonard in the Newsday of Sunday February 23, 2003.
This letter, ‘Pan Trinbago, Panorama ju-dging needs assessment’, questions both the quality of the adjudicators and the judging and laments the fact that a gross injustice had been perpetrated on Invaders in the National Semi-finals held on February 16, 2003. As a pan enthusiast myself, who has followed the Panorama competitions for more than four decades, it struck me that Tropical Angel Harps also suffered a gross injustice at the hands of the panel of adjudicators. This band has always had to do more than the North bands to arrive at the same point. It is as though the band is continually being asked to prove itself in a way that a Renegades or a Desperadoes does not have to, and it may well be that this is what it will take for a band from Central Chaguanas to emerge among the top three in Panorama.
Before putting pen to paper, I decided to call around to some of my pan colleagues to see whether my assessment of the performance of the band was skewed or tinged by some sort of bias for the underdogs. Incidentally, I am from the Port-of-Spain area, but had previously lived in the Chaguanas area for some five years during which time my attention had been drawn to the quality of Tropical Angel Harps music and the budding genius of its youthful arranger, Clarence Morris. Roughly ninety-five percent of my pan colleagues with whom I spoke agreed with me that something seemed to be wrong with the low points received by the band, particularly when compared to most of the other bands whose quality of music in no way could have rivaled that of Tropical Angel Harps; nor was their performance superior to that of the Central band.
Chance would have it that as I contemplated writing about this injustice, I came across in my files an article written in February 7, 1985 by one K Alexander of Chaguanas on a similar injustice meted out to this same band back in 1985. The article entitled ‘Where were judges when Harps played?’ could very well have been the heading for this one being written by me. Some of the same questions raised then are applicable in this case. As we try to make sense out of this situation, a number of questions immediately arise. In as much as Tropical Angel Harps was the first band to play that Sunday, were the judges being conservative in their initial marking, but decided to open up later in the competition? This is the same band that had a week ago gained 270 points and taken the title of the South-Central Zonal finals in the process. Were the judges fully awake when they judged this band? What exactly did these judges hear to make them award such low points to this band? Many people who listened to the competition from start to finish thought that no more than two or three bands rivaled the performance of the Chaguanas band.
This leads one then to question the consistency, fairness and integrity of the adjudicators, a point made by the writer referred to above in the case of Invaders. What would have driven these adjudicators to award the points they did to bpTT Renegades when the general consensus was that Renegades’ performance was rather lacklustre; and how about the points awarded to Silver Stars, to name just a few. What are we to expect of these same judges as we go into the Panorama Finals on Saturday March 1? As we ponder upon these questions, I have often wondered whether the geography of a band has anything to do with the way it is perceived and consequently judged by the adjudicators. Is Tropical Angel Harps being punished because it is a Central band? As ridiculous as this question may sound to some, these thoughts have been voiced by many over the years. Finally, I appeal to the adjudicators who will be judging the Finals of the Panorama on Saturday March 1, 2003 to come to their task with an open and unbiased mind. Listen to all of the bands with the same degree of attention and scrutiny. I am sure that you will hear on Saturday what many of us heard from Tropical Angel Harps on Sunday February 16 and I think you will be more than pleased that we drew your attention to your mistake.
JOHN WILLIAMS
St James
