Brendan Boodoo and Aadian Racha warmed up for Wednesday’s Intercol Final with strong performances to lead South to the Price Club North-South Under-17 Classic competition at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva, on Monday.
Boodoo scored 47 not out after Racha ripped through North’s top order with 3 for 7 as South won by eight wickets to add the Under-17 title to the Under-15 versions. The Under-15 team was captained by Boodoo.
North was sent in to bat first and was instantly put under pressure as Racha struck with the 3rd ball of the innings, extracting an edge from Sameer Saroops’ bat to the wicketkeeper for a duck. Ryan Yearwood followed in the next over, also without scoring off the bowling of Alexander Chase as North lost two wickets for two runs in two overs. The opening bowlers had taken half of North’s batting with just 22 runs on the board in 8.5 overs.
North never recovered as first-change bowler Alvin Sonny continued where Chase and Racha left off and snapped up two wickets of his own. It took number 10 batsman Shepphan McPherson to reach 21 and Abdul Raheem Toppin who batted at seven to score 17 to take the score past 50 and eventually to 88 all out.
Racha sharpened up for Presentation’s Intercol Final match against Fatima on Wednesday with figures of 3 for 7 from six overs, while Alexander Chase took 2 for 15 off five and Alvin Sonny took 2 for 22 off six.
In reply, South cruised to 89 for 2 in only 8.3 overs. National under 15 captain, Brendan Boodoo continued his fine form with a blazing 47 not out from just 26 balls. Luke Ali scored 17.
South cruised to the title by eight wickets. Racha for his bowling effort was named man-of-the-match.
Today, North Under-19 will attempt to avenge defeats that their under-15 and 17 teams in the North-South Classic that were played in March and April respectively. The National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva will host today’s final.
After winning the 4-Day senior North-South Classic, North had tasted only defeat in the under-15 and under-17 matches and is desperate to make amends. The match will see more Presentation San Fernando players (Nickyle Jalim, Riyaad Mohammed, and Ricardo Chase) warming up for the Intercol final against Fatima players in North (Zachary Siewah and Joshua Davis) in what could be used as a warm-up for the Intercol final.