In a virtually one-sided affair, No.73 Young Warriors defeated Scottsburg United by 90 runs in the final of the Upper Corentyne Cricket Association/ Ahmad Construction Under-19 tournament yesterday.
Played at the secluded No.72 Cut and Load Ground, Young Warriors won the toss and batted in the match which was reduced to 32 overs-a-side due to early morning showers.
Young Warriors posted 212-6 from their allotted overs before bowling out Scottsburg for 122 in 28.1 overs.
An unbeaten 52 from 36 balls, laced with four fours and three sixes from captain, Vetori Latchman, propelled Young Warriors past the 200-run mark.
Latchman shared in a 96-run, sixth-wicket partnership with Raul Jabbar who was run out for 23.
Before Latchman’s late surge, consistent opener, Trevon Sukhu, continued his fine form scoring 45 from 53 balls and hitting six fours and one six along the way before holing out to long off.
The right-handed batsman shared a 65-run, second-wicket partnership with Niraj Singh who toiled for a 40-ball 20 featuring three boundaries.
Young Warriors were also indebted to cameos from Sarwan Chaitnarine (15) and Nicholas Tahal (14) while extras accounted for 44.
In the chase, Jabbar returned with his right-arm seam to rock the top order early and reduce Scottsburg to 15 for three by the ninth over. Jabbar trapped Alameen Khan and Basil Patrick leg before wicket and then uprooted the off-stump of Clifford Embrack to end with three wickets for 17 runs.
Jabbar was supported by fellow seamer, Nathan Odell, who made light work of the lower order and returned three wickets for 27 runs to earn the Man-of-the-Match award.
Scottsburg, after their horrid start, recovered through a 28-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Seeraj Chatterpaul (18) and Akthar Nohar (12).
National cyclist, Jeremiah Joseph, played well to give Scottsburg a bit of hope but was trapped leg before wicket off of Odell for a top score of 27 off 30 balls, featuring two fours and two sixes. Joseph received support from Justin Dhanraj who made 21 from 19 balls before he too was bowled by Odell to break a 41-run, seventh wicket stand.
After the match, the successful captain Latchman credited the brotherhood among the team towards their success.
“This is a team that would have come through the ranks together. We would have played Under-15 and Under-17 together and I would say it was our unity. We played as a family and we stuck to our plans and that ultimately made the difference today. We knew the opposition having beaten them the day before and we came here to repeat what we did,” Latchman said.
He added that the performance from Jabbar was instrumental, not only with bat and ball, but in the field, where he took two brilliant catches.
Meanwhile, losing captain Nohar explained that it was a disappointing effort in the field that saw the game slipp away from them.
“We didn’t field well. We had a lot of misfields and gave away plenty runs,” he said while noting that the plan to chase down the target was simply to build partnerships, particularly the openers who were expected to give a 50-plus stand.
President of the Berbice Cricket Board, Hilbert Foster, encouraged the youngsters to continue investing in their game while distributing two dozen scorebooks and two catching boards for the clubs in the Association.
