Central Sports are the T&T Cricket Board Premier Division One Champions after they left it late Sunday and they did it the hard way in Syne Village, Penal against Powergen.
It was always their title to lose as they came into the match needing seven points to win the trophy as Bess Motors Marchin Patriots was the only team with a mathematical chance to steal the title away from them. However, instead of attaining the first innings points they were chasing, they fell away badly and were trailing the first innings by 57 runs.
Captain Lendl Simmons and middle-order batsman Jesse Bootan failed to capitalise on their overnight scores of 73 and 54, respectively, when they resumed on 250/5. They were dismissed for 74 and 64 respectively and that triggered a collapse.
Central Sports were looking towards Powergen’s 335 but were bowled out for 278. With only five of the seven points already attained, they needed to bowl out Powergen for the added bowling bonus points for the title. Powergen was not going to declare because the 57-run lead in the first innings was not enough and with Lendl Simmons in the lineup chasing anything under 250 even in two hours is not impossible for the Felicity team.
Their championship was confirmed when Kavesh Kantasingh was caught as he was the tenth Powergen wicket to fall giving the new champions the required bonus points for the silverware.
Central Sports batted a second time but it did not matter and the target of 313 to win was not even a concern.
Meanwhile, Marchin was marching towards a possible win at home over Victoria.
Marchin resumed on 78 for two in their second innings with a lead of 90. They needed to score at a high rate to give themselves enough time to take ten Victoria wickets.
Marchin managed to get to 219 in 66.4 overs with Crystian Thurton following up his 69 in the first innings with a knock of 60 and Teshawn Catsro getting to 43.
The game hung in the balance as Victoria then needed 233 to win.
There was enough time to have three different results. Marchin needed a win to give themselves a chance just in case things didn’t go Central’s way.
Guyanese opener Vishual Singh led the way but he stood alone with 71 as he got no substantial support from his teammates. They were all out for 158 just 74 runs short.
The win, however, was good enough for Marchin Patriots to secure second.
SCORES:
Powergen 335 (109.5 overs) (Navin Bidassie 130; Samuel Roopnarine 77; Mbeki Joseph 42; Mikkel Govia 4-57; Marlon Richards 2-28;) and 255 (50 overs) (Andre Fletcher 110; Sameer Ali 5-66) vs Central Sports 278 (68.3 overs) (Jesse Bootan 74; Lendl Simmons 64; Shayne Mosely 54; Kavesh Kantasingh 4-51;Samuel Roopnarine 4-100) and 77 / 3 (11.2 overs) (Shayne Mosely 50; Shaaron Lews 3-32). Match Drawn.
Bess Motors Marchin Patriots 218 (58.3 overs) (Crystian Thurton 69; Adrian Ali 48; Jovan Ali 5-56) and 219 (66.4 overs) (Crystian Thurton 60; Teshawn Castro 43; Avinash Mahabirsingh 5-74; Jovan Ali 4-82) vs Victoria 206 (63.4 overs) (Kyle Roopchand 54; Eton Bhal 44*;Richeir Looknauth 5-44; Kashtri Singh 4-41) and 158 (38 overs) (Vishaul Singh 71; Kastri Singh 4-43). Marchin Patriots won by 73 runs.
Merryboys 335 (66.4 overs) (Daron Cruickshank 145; Akil Greenidge 65; Leonardo Julien 49; Nathaniel Mc David 5-98) and 106 (32.3 overs) (Daron Cruickshank 34; Aneal Rooplal 4-21; Justyn Gangoo 3-42) vs Preysal 180 (41.1 overs) (Antonio Gomez 57: Darren Deonarine 7-57) and 248 (50.1 overs, Lemuel Matthews 103; Darren Deonarine 6-88). Merryboys won by 13 runs.
Clarke Road 444 (85.6 overs) (Kyle Hope 117; Mark Deyal 82; Jason Batson 4 wkts) vs Queen’s Park 530/9 (106 overs) (Jordan Warner 184; Brandon Maharaj 126; Kerwyn Sirju 5-163; Mark Deyal 4-119). Match Drawn.
Premiership I Points Table
Team - Total
Central Sports - 132
Bess Motors Marchin Patriots - 125
QPCC - 111
Powergen - 109
Clarke Road - 99
Victoria - 91
Preysal - 82
Merryboys - 64