Trinidad: Carib cricket comes to crunch (23 May 1998)

Saturday, May 23, 1998

Carib cricket comes to crunch

By FORBES PERSAUD

WHEN the final round of matches in the National League Division One competition begins today, the top four teams will have absolutely no margin for error.

Defending champs Sims Central Sports (102 points) are deadlocked at the top of the table with Queen's Park Cricket Club and they will clash with fourth-placed Moosai's Sports (91 pts) while the Parkites take on third-placed Caroni Wanderers (99 pts).

The start of the rainy season means that there is the possibility of play being affected so that the accumulation of bonus points could prove decisive in determining the champs.

Led by diminutive West Indies wicketkeeper David Williams, Sims will fancy their chances in their clash with the Pride of the East at Honeymoon Park in Tunapuna. With national senior player and Test prospect Daren Ganga, consistent national allrounder Mahadeo Bodoe and former national youth player Adesh Dass in their line-up along with a formidable spin bowling trio in veteran Rukham Jaggernauth, Vickram Ramoutar and former national leg-spinner Premnath Ramnath, the Central boys will feel they have the wherewithal to best Moosai's.

The easterners have former West Indies pacer Anthony Gray to lead a bowling attack which includes former national leg-spinner Ganesh Mahabir and medium pacer Ricky Toussaint as well as a batting line-up containing national player Keno Mason and veteran Aneal Rajah. But working against them is the absence of the key duo of former national youth leg-spinner Vishal Persad-Maharaj and national youth opener Leon Romero, both of whom are currently playing Minor League cricket in England. So the task for the easterners-who must score an outright victory and hope the QPCC game versus Wanderers ends in a draw to have any chance of winning the title-is made even more difficult.

In the key clash at the Oval, a first innings decision may well be the most likely result given the weather and the comparative strengths of Queen's Park and Wanderers.

Both teams have a wealth of batting and are capable of posting very big scores.

For the Parkites national players Suruj Ragoonath, Richard Smith and André Lawrence together with Emerson Williams and Imran Jan are the key men.

Wanderers will be relying on skipper Narine Bideshi, Deonarine Deyal, Dennis Rampersad and Rajendra Mangalie for healthy scores ... and critical bonus points.

Bowling bonus points are likely to prove far more critical and the real battle will be between the strong batting line-ups and WI spinner Rajindra Dhanraj, WI youth pacer Asif Jan on the one hand and WI "A" team spinner Avidesh Samaroo and pacers Okeefe Lakhan and Rishi Samaroo on the other.

In the other matches, Santa Cruz host Alescon Comet and relegation-bound Defence Force travel to Wilson Road to take on Clarke Road.

Source :: The Trinidad Express (https://www.trinidad.net/express/)