Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege San Fer­nan­do (Pres San­do) is the new Pow­er­Gen Sec­ondary Schools Crick­et League (SS­CL) Pre­mier Di­vi­sion 50-Over cham­pi­on. Pres San­do com­plet­ed the tour­na­ment un­beat­en as it pun­ished St Bene­dict’s Col­lege by nine wick­ets to fin­ish with an 8-0 record in the league on Tues­day.

Com­ing in­to the last match of the sea­son, Pres San­do knew its fate was in its own hands as a win would gift them the ti­tle, but a loss and a Pre­sen­ta­tion Ch­agua­nas (Pres Chag) win away to Na­pari­ma Col­lege could have spoilt their day.

At Union Hall, San Fer­nan­do, skip­per Nick­yle Jal­im won the toss and sent the La Ro­maine-based school in to bat first.

St Bene­dict’s lost their first wick­et on 24 when Jonathan Je­bodh was caught be­hind for six off the bowl­ing of Aid­i­an Racha. They lost Luke Hard­ing tem­porar­i­ly when he was stuck on the body by a ball from medi­um-pac­er Ri­car­do Chase and left the field.

The vis­i­tors slipped to 49/4 when Josh Tele­maque was dis­missed (along with Bene­dict’s hopes of a chal­leng­ing to­tal) for 33. St Bene­dict’s was even­tu­al­ly bowled out for 85 in 35.4 overs.

No one else got to dou­ble fig­ures as Chis Sadanan, Nick­el Men­tor, and Aiden Bas­deo (not out), each made nine.

Chase was the pick of the Pre­sen­ta­tion bowlers, with fig­ures of 4-19. Khaleem Mo­hammed got 3-1 and skip­per Jal­im got 2-14 for the win­ner.

In Pre­sen­ta­tion's pur­suit of the runs, they had no ma­jor hic­cups as they got the win­ning runs - a Riyaad Mo­hammed bound­ary - in the first ball of the 16th over, get­ting to 89/1.

Big-hit­ter Khaleem Mo­hammed con­tin­ued his fine form scor­ing 43, while his part­ner Riyaad Mo­hammed got to 32 not out, as they won by nine wick­ets and claim the cham­pi­onship.

Their Ch­agua­nas "broth­ers" were in with a slight chance to lift the ti­tle, as Pres Chag need­ed to beat Na­pari­ma Col­lege at Lewis Street, San Fer­nan­do, and hope that the San Fer­nan­do team lose to St Bene­dict’s.

While they had no con­trol over what took place at Union Hall, they knew they need to take care of busi­ness against Na­pari­ma.

They took the first strike and scored 218 all out in 49 overs. En­ri­co Prem­chan top-scored with 70 and Dil­lon Balka­ran scored 35. Luke Ali scored 27.

The pick of the bowlers for "Naps" was Matthew Coop­er, who took 2-20, Jer­mey Singh claimed 2-27, and Alex Gopaul se­cured 2-34.

Na­pari­ma, who start­ed the sea­son bright­ly but their wheels fell off the wag­on, lost con­sec­u­tive match­es to Pres San­do and Hillview, ap­peared to be low on con­fi­dence, and was re­strict­ed to 174/7 in their 50 overs.

Gopaul was their best bats­man, as he made 60 and Ran­del Gopaul added 25. For Pre­sen­ta­tion, Thomas Walsh had fig­ures of 3-41 and Ra­jesh Ma­haraj had three wick­ets for the cost of 31 runs as their team com­plet­ed the 44-run win.

How­ev­er, Pres Chag was good enough for sec­ond place.

BRIEF SCORES:

At Lewis Street, San Fer­nan­do: Pres Ch­agua­nas 218 all out (49 overs) (En­ri­co Prem­chan 70, Dil­lon Balka­ran 35, Luke Ali 27, Matthew Coop­er 2-20, Je­re­my Singh 2-27, Alex Gopaul 2-34) vs Naps 174/7 (50 overs) (Alex Gopaul 60, Ran­del Gopaul 25, Thomas Walsh 3-41, Ra­jesh Ma­haraj 2-31).

Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lage San Fer­nan­do won by 44 runs

At Union Hall, San Fer­nan­do: St Bene­dict’s Col­lege 85 (35.4 overs) (Josh Tele­maque 33, Ri­car­do Chase 4-19, Khaleem Mo­hammed 3-1, Nick­yle Jal­im 2-14) vs Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege San Fer­nan­do 87/1 in 15.1 overs (Khaleem Mo­hammed 43, Rayad Mo­hammed 32 no, Kristoff Seer­aj 2-13)

Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege Ch­agua­nas won by 9 wick­ets.

At St Mary’s, Port of Spain: St Mary’s Col­lege 158 (41 overs) (Zo­bari Ro­many 32, Adri­an Ma­has 6 for 23) vs Fa­ti­ma Col­lege 73 for 2 in 16.2 overs (Joshua Davis 30 not out, Samir Sa­roop 1-13).

Fa­ti­ma Col­lege won by 8 wick­ets re­vised run rate.

At Knowles Street, Curepe: Vish­nu Boys Col­lege 332 for 8 in 50 Overs (An­drew Ram­baran 168, Ra­jeev Ram­nath 63, Qaadir Ju­man 4-70, Ra­jeev Ram­goolie 2-43) vs Hillview Col­lege 186 for 6 in 50 overs (Ra­jeev Ram­goolie 79, Luke Mulchans­ingh 50 not out, Ra­jeev Ram­nath 2-29, Aidan Lakhans­ingh 2-34).

Vish­nu Boys won by 185 runs.