South, Central and North booked their place in the semi-finals of the T&T Cricket Board (TTCB) Under-17 cricket series with victories in their second-round clash on Wednesday.
South defeated South East by 108 runs at Sancho Road in St Julien while Aaron Bankay slammed 75 to lead Central to victory over South West. Also on winner's row was North as Sachin Emrit gabbed five wickets to bowl out North East.
South East won the toss and sent South in with the hope that their fast bowlers would make an impression. South openers Venesh Narine and Kendall Poochoon had other ideas. They posted 65 runs for the first wicket which set the tone.
Narine went on to make 43 and the in-form skipper Tariq Mohammed counted a quickfire 46. The partnership of the inning, however, came from Rodney Beharry and Rayall Narine. The Presentation College duo added 85 runs for the fifth-wicket that took South to its eventual 314 all out. Beharry was very sound in compiling 70 while Narine made 30. Towards the end, Chris Sadanan clobbered 43 to add to South East woes.
When South East started its inning, opening bowler Liam Mamchan stifled them and with just 19 runs on the board unrooted the stumps of opener Arun Goopiechansingh. The Naparima College student gave away just five runs from his opening burst of four overs and this set the tone.
South East lost wickets regularly after as spinners Avalon Changoor, Daren Samlal, Mohammed and Poochoon got into the act. Changoor took 2/32, Samlal 2/29 and Poochoon 2/49.
Down Point Fortin, Central continued their fine work, as it defeated South West by eight wickets. South West batting first struggled to 121 all out with Daniel Fletcher taking 3/28. Left-hander Bankay then addressed the national selectors with an aggressive 75 as South West reached the total at 121/2 off just 15 overs.
Across in Tobago, East was bowled out for 131 by the home team and at the lunch break, they were confident of getting past the total. However, the East bowlers were on the spot when Tobago batted and humbled them for just 77, winning by 54 runs.
SCORES
At St. Julien: South 314 all out (49.2) (Rodney Beharry 70, Tariq Mohammed 46, Venesh Narine 43, Chris Sadanan 42, Rayall Narine 30, Jonathan Federick 2/39) vs South East 206/8 (Kyle Roopchand 39, Nickyle Jalim 33no, Jonathan Frederick 24no, Avalon Changoor 2/32, Darren Samlal 2/29, Kendall Poochoon 2/49) - South won by 108 runs.
At James Park: South West 121 all out (Daniel Fletcher 3/28) vs Central 121/2 (15) (Aaron Bankay 75). Central won by 8 wkts.
At Shaw Park: East 131 all out vs Tobago 77 all out. East won the match by 54 runs.
At Prisons North 231/7 (Zacharia Sawh 66, Jonty Ramdeen 44, Chadeon Raymond 33, A Harris 2/31, V Singh 2/39) vs North East 121 all out (Anderson Mahase 26, Sachin Emrit 5/35, J Cruickshank 2/20). North won by 110 runs.