Young Aussies beat PowerGen
November 24th 2008

Impressive left-arm pacer Arjun Bagga bagged five wickets for seven runs, including the hatrick, to lead an Australian Under-16 team to a comfortable six-wicket win against PowerGen Sports Club youth team at Syne Village in Penal, here on Sunday.

In the opening match of their Caribbean tour, the well-oiled Australian team completely outplayed their opponents in the 45-over contest which was played in the Southern part of Trinidad.

PowerGen Sports led by T&T Under-19 left-handed opening batsman Evin Lewis won the toss and opted for first strike.

However, the decision by PowerGen to bat first backfired as none of their batsmen were able to cope with the probing pace of Bagga and Damon Smith and folded for a disappointing 90 runs from 26.1 overs. Topscorers for the local team were Jason Bhola and Saddique Ambrally both of whom made 15, while Lewis contributed 12.

Lending good support to Bagga was Damon Smith with two for 14. In response, the young Aussies raced to their target in 19.2 overs losing four wickets in the process.Leading the victory charge was George Hollin-Smith who scored an entertaining 34 from 54 balls, with six fours.

T&T Under-17 left-arm bowler Daron Beekha bagged three for 19 for PowerGen.

The young Aussies arrived in Trinidad & Tobago on Thursday and will play matches in the two-island republic and Barbados.

The first time that an Australian youth team toured the Caribbean was in 1965, it included in players like all-rounder Gary Gilmour, one of three players who went on to play Test cricket.

An Australian Under-19 team also visited in 1990 and that squad includes players like Shane Warne, Damien Martyn, Damien Fleming, Craig White, Michael Bevan, Jason Gallian, and Brendon Julian.

Co-ordinator of the tour, Anthony Harford of the T&T-based All Sports Promotion, said the Australians have embarked on this development tour because they missed playing in the recent CLICO Under-15 World Cup and chose to travel to the Caribbean since the regional team won that championship.

The Australians will play five matches in T&T, and then travel to Barbados on December 3 for two games against Barbados and the Windward Islands Under-17 teams respectively.

Australia will come up against T&T Under-17 on Monday in a 50-over affair at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva, starting at 10 am. Led by Yannick Ottley, the T&T Under-17 team are the defending championds of Sir Garfield Sobers International Schools tournament.

Summarised scores:

AT SYNE VILL: PowerGen Sports 90 all out (26.1 overs) (Jason Bhola 15, Saddique Ambrally 15, Evin Lewis 12, Arjun Bagga 5-7 including hatrick, Damon Smith 2-14) v Australia Under-16 92-4 (19.2 overs) (George Hollin-Smith 34, Sam Trulorf 17, Daron Beekha 3-19). Australia won by 6 wkts.