BG T&T UNDER-19 COMPETITION
FINAL PREVIEW - April 7th 2008

BG TT UNDER-19 FINAL
Barath leads Central challenge in youth final

A STAR-STUDDED Central team will be seeking top championship honours, when they take on South-East in the final of the 2008 BG TT Under-19 competition at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva. The two -day encounter is scheduled to start today at 9.30 am.

Central defeated Tobago by nine wickets in one of the semi-finals last week at Presentation College grounds in Chaguanas, while South-East won on first innings against dethroned champions East at Honeymoon Park in Tacarigua.

Leading the batting charge for the Central team is T&T and West Indies youth opening batsman Adrian Barath. The right-handed Barath will have the support of T&T U-19 middle-order batsman, Kjorn Ottley, the in-form Yannick Ottley, the impressive Sebastien Bhall and West Indies U-15 allrounder Derone Davis.

Talented left-arm spinner Javid Ramdhanie will spearhead Central’s potent bowling attack, with good support from Omesh Ramoutar, Davis and Keshawn Castro. At the head of Central’s technical staff is former T&T youth allrounder Narsingh Rambaran who has a wealth of talent, in fine-tuning his players for the big matches.

“ We have a good allround team and if we play to our true ablity, we can surely come out on top,” Rambaran said.

Prolific rungetter Evin Lewis will be again looking to give South-East a good start in their quest for championship honours.

Lewis has been a model of consistency this season, scoring close to 700 runs in the T&T Cricket Board and PowerGen Secondary Schools League competitions.

Lewis can look to promising allrounder Akiel Cooper, Dexter Hosepedales, Kemraj Mewalal and Ameer Mohammed for support with the bat, while Sheldon Durgan and Avinash Hajaree will head the bowling attack for the Southerners.

Officials of the T&T Cricket Board including CEO and General Secretary, Forbes Persaud, 2nd Vice-President Leo Doodnath, along with BGTT’s Mark Regis and Candace Clarke-Salloum will meet the players just before the scheduled start.

Also in attendance will be chairman of the T&T Under-19 selection panel, Lalman Kowlessar, and newly appointed manager of the U-19 team, William Wallace.

TEAMS:

CENTRAL: Kjorn Ottley (captain), Adrian Barath, Sebastien Bhall, Yannick Ottley, Qadir Shah, Richard Ramlal, Derone Davis, Keshawn Castro, Omesh Ramoutar, Bhimal Gobinda, Javid Ramdhanie, Ryan Jaipaul, Roshan Parag, Darren Noel. Manager - Bede Ottley. Coach - Narsingh Rambaran.

SOUTH-EAST: Nicholas Isaac (captain), Akiel Cooper, Evin Lewis, Kemraj Mewalal, Richie Joseph, Satish Maraj, Adika John, Rasheed Mohammed, Dexter Hospedales, Amando Patterson, Ameer Mohammed, Sheldon Durgan, Avinash Hajaree. Manager - Shaheed Mohammed. Coach - Patrick Harriot.

SEMI-FINALS SUMMARISED SCORES
BG TT U-19 Semi-Final Summarised Scores

AT CHAGUANAS: Tobago 111 & 121 (Kelon Hamilton 26, Javid Ramdhanie 2-10, Kjorn Ottley 2-12 & 4-3, Omesh Ramoutar 4-25) v Central 185 all out & 48-1 (Yannick Ottley 55, Qadir Shah 33, Kjorn Ottley 28, Derone Davis 20, Richard Ramlal 26 not out, Addrian Daniel 4-22, Theron Reid 3-28). Central won by 9 wkts.

AT HONEYMOON PARK: South-East 166 (Evin Lewis 82, Khemraj Mewalal 30) v East 112 all out (Akiel Cooper 4-29, Sheldon Durgan 4-36). South-East won on first innings.