North retains Classic Cup

Defending champions North retained the Pizza Hut/QPCC Gerry Gomez Classic Cricket Cup, when they were held to a draw on the final day of the four-day contest, yesterday at the Queen’s Park Oval. Set 261 runs for victory off a minimum of 77 overs by the North team, South reached 194 for five when the match was called off with 6.5 overs remaining. Leading the fight for the South team was impressive opening batsman Imran Khan who scored a resolute 96. Khan was the fifth to be dismissed, caught at short-leg by North’s skipper Rayad Emrit off Navin Stewart’s bowling.

He batted for 314 minutes, faced 217 balls and struck five fours. Khan caught the eyes of the many spectators with an outstanding all-round performance but failed in his effort to catch the eyes of the selectors. 0Despite having a match-haul of three wickets for ten runs and scoring a tally of 103 runs in the 12th edition of the Classic, Khan’s tremendous showing was not enough to impress the national selectors, headed by former national batsman Narine Bidhesi, for the opening match in the Regional Four-Day tournament next week against Barbados in Bridgetown. Former national players Alec Burns and Claude Phillip were also part of the panel.

Khan who made his senior team in 2006 and has played seven matches in the regional tournament since, said that although he is disappointed at not being selected on the squad he will continue to remain focused in a bid to cement a place on the T&T team for the remainder of the regional tournament. “I am happy with my performance in the Classic. I played my heart out for my team. I will continue to train hard. I am well focused on the task ahead.” Earlier, North resumed on 84 for seven and were dismissed for 125. Discarded West Indies leg-spinner Dave Mohammed was the leading bowler with four for 45 and was well supported by Khan who bagged two for seven from eight overs with his leg-spinners.

In pursuit of their target, South lost Adrian Barath (9) with the score on 20 and went to lunch on 34 for one, with Khan on 14 and skipper Daren Ganga three. After the break, South lost two further wickets in Daren Ganga (17) and Jason Mohammed (3) and went to the tea interval on 99 for three. On the resumption, Khan added 47 with Sherwin Ganga (31) for the fourth wicket and 62 with Gibran Mohammed (23 not out) to guide his team to safety. Off-spinner Sunil Narine was leading bowler with two for 53. North’s impressive batsman Darren Bravo was named “Man of the Match” by former International umpire Clyde Cumberbatch.

HONOUR ROLL

Best Batsman - Darren Bravo.
Best Bowler - Rayad Emrit.
Best Fieldsman - Kervon Cooper.
Century - Darren Bravo.
MVP (North) - Darren Bravo
MVP (South) - Imran Khan.
Man of Match - Darren Bravo.

TEAMS

T&T Senior national: Daren Ganga (captain), Adrian Barath, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Justin Guillen, Sherwin Ganga, Gibran Mohammed, Rayad Emrit, Richard Kelly, Dave Mohammed, Amit Jaggernauth, Atiba Alert, Sunil Narine. Manager: Colin Borde. Coach: Kelvin Williams. Trainer: Ronald Rogers.

T&T Under-23: Mario Belcon, William Perkins, Franklyn Rouse, Jason Mohammed (captain), Daron Cruikshank, Kervon Cooper, Anthony Balgobin, Rishi Bachan, Rishaad Harris, Shannon Gabriel, Dane Teelucksingh, Yannic Cariah, Kjorn Ottley, Visham Ramroop. Manager: Chaitram Ranjitsingh. Coach: Clem Hercules.


Naz Yacoob
Trinidad Guardian