TCL Group Regional Under-19 Cricket Challenge
Round 4 Day 2
July 22, 2009

T&T in Strong Position

Half-centuries from the in-form Yannic Cariah , opening batsman Nicholas Alexis and skipper Yannick Ottley, powered T&T into a strong position against the Leewards on Day Two, in the penultimate round of the TCL Group West Indies Under-19 Challenge, yesterday, at Chedwin Park in the parish of St Catherine.

Cariah struck an exciting 84 , Alexis a patient 67, and Ottley a captain’s unbeaten knock of 83 as T&T chasing the Leewards’ modest first innings total of 323, declared at 323 for eight , to establish an important lead of 149 runs.

Hayden Walsh jr was the leading bowler for the Leewards with four for 71, while pacer Nelson Bolan bagged three for 51.

Left with nine overs batting, Leewards closed on 24 for one, still needing a further 125 runs to avoid an innings defeat with nine wickets remaining.

The batsman dismissed was Tashmail Mills who was trapped in front to Teshawn Castro for 10.

Cariah, a 16-year-old resident of Coalmine in Tamana, who participates in the Premiership Division with Clico Preysal Sports smashed eight fours and a six in 162 minutes from 117 balls which laid the foundation for his team’s effort in pursuit of first innings lead.

He shared in a vital third wicket partnership of 146 in 162 minutes with the right-handed Alexis, whose innings was built around eight fours in 214 minutes off 139 balls.

Ottley who went through the ranks of Clico Preysa’s and the T&T Cricket Board’s age-group programmes played responsibly for his 83, which came in 181 minutes off 156 balls and included 12 fours.

Earlier, T&T resumed from its overnight position of 54 for two , with Alexis on 20 and Cariah 17.

The duo punished the un-penetrative bowling attack with responsible batting, choosing to put away the bad balls.

Cariah was the more attacking of the two and just when he seemed to be on his way to his second century of the tournament, he played lazily at off-spinner Tevin Osbourne and was caught by Mills at short mid-wicket just before lunch.

T&T went to the break on 173 for three, with Alexis on 67 and Ottley four.

On the resumption, T&T suffered a mini-collapse losing two wickets for nine runs, all to right-arm leg-spinner Walsh, who accounted for Alexis and Akiel Cooper (4).

Wicketkeeper Aaron Alfred (20) and Ottley repaired the damage with an enterprising sixth wicket stand of 43 before Walsh broke the stand when he captured the wicket of Alfred leave T&T at 225 for six.

Ottley found a useful partner in Sachin Boodram and went to the tea break on 258 for six, with Ottley on 52 and Boodram (S) unbeaten on seven.

After the interval the T&T tail wagged together with Ottley, before the declaration came.

Meanwhile, young Cariah told the Trinidad Guardian that he is pleased with his showing in the series so far.

“ Although, I am pleased with my performance in the tournament, my ultimate goal is to help the team capture the championship. I want to leave them in a good position for the final round of the tournament which starts on Saturday against Guyana,” Cariah said.

He added that he would like score more runs and take more wickets to enhance his chances for selection on the West Indies team for the 2010 Youth World Cup in New Zealand. The left-handed batsman has tallied 286 runs and is the leading wickettaker in the series with 22 wickets.

SCOREBOARD

At Chedwin Park
Trinidad and Tobago v Leeward Islands
Leewards 1st Inns 174
T&T 1st Inns (o/n 54-2)
N Alexis c Walters b Walsh*67
A Khan b Bolan*0
E Lewis c wkpr Hamilton b Bolan*6
Y Cariah c Mills b Osbourne*84
Y Ottley not out*83
A Cooper c & b Walsh*4
A Alfred c Leonard b Walsh *20
S Boodram b Bolan*22
T Castro b Walsh*15
J Boodram DNB
K Magram DNB
Extras (13b, 1lb, 7nb, 1w)*22
TOTAL (for 8 wkts dec. 98 overs)*323
Wkts: 5, 21, 167,, 178, 182, 225, 291, 323.
Bowling: Kelbert Walters 15-2-40-0, Nelson Bolan 16-2-51-3,
Shane Burton 3-2-5-0, Tevin Osbourne 19-3-62-1, Yannick
Leonard 22-3-80-0, Hayden Walsh 23-4-71-4.
Leewards 2nd Inns
T Mills lbw Castro*10
A Fox not out*10
Y Leonard not out*3
Extras (1nb)*1
TOTAL (for 1 wkt 9 overs)*18
Wkts: 18.
Bowling: Teshawn Castro 4-0-11-1, Akiel Cooper 2-0-10-0,
Kissoondath Magram 2-1-3-0, Yannic Cariah 1-1-0-0.