Naz Ya­coob

The man­age­ment com­mit­tee of the T&T youth team now par­tic­i­pat­ing in the 2010 TCL Group West In­dies Un­der-19 Crick­et Chal­lenge, have made two changes to their side for to­day's fourth round match against the Lee­ward Is­lands at Gros Islet. Ac­cord­ing to team man­ag­er, Roland Sam­path, two mem­bers of the Cli­co Preysal Sports Crick­et Club will make make their de­but for the T&T Un­der-19 team against the bot­tom of stand­ings Lee­ward Is­lands.

Right-hand­ed open­ing bats­man Videsh Sookhai and for­mer West In­dies Un­der-15 cap­tain Steven Kat­wa­roo have been in­clud­ed in the team at the ex­pense of out of form bats­man Akeal Ho­sein and wick­et­keep­er Rixon Mani­ram. Sookhai from Nanan Trace in Preysal Vil­lage is a stu­dent of the Omardeen School of Ac­counts, while Kat­wa­roo a res­i­dent of Soomanie Trace in Bar­rack­pore is a stu­dent of Iere High School in Siparia. The team en­joyed a light train­ing ses­sion at Gros Islet and Sam­path was con­fi­dent an im­proved show­ing is in the mak­ing. T&T are in fifth po­si­tion in the six-team ta­ble and must win to stay alive in the tour­na­ment, which Sam­path said can go the way of any team.

"We have a team with great tal­ent and is rather a dis­ap­point­ing bat­ting per­for­mance from them thus far. They can al­ways take some ex­am­ple with their bat­ting from open­ers Nicholas Alex­is and Ke­iron Joseph. The bowlers led by right-arm leg spin­ners Kissoon­dath Ma­gram and Yan­nic Cari­ah have done well but our main con­cern still re­mains our bat­ting," Sam­path stat­ed. The ex-na­tion­al all­rounder said he ex­pects great things from the 18-year-old Sookhai and the 17-year-old Kat­wa­roo. "Both play­ers have shown great in­ter­est in their game and have been giv­en the op­por­tu­ni­ty to show their worth at this lev­el," Sam­path added.�

He said that pick­ing up 12 points against the Lee­wards will do the team a whole lot of good�for the re­main­der of the se­ries. In oth­er fourth round match­es, it will be a top of the ta­ble clash be­tween de­fend­ing cham­pi­ons Ja­maica and hosts Wind­ward Is­lands at Beause­jour Sta­di­um, while Guyana and Bar­ba­dos will clash in the re­mote dis­tract of Den­nery.

T&T fi­nal eleven:

Nicholas Alex­is, Ke­iron Joseph, Evin Lewis, Videsh Sookhai, Yan­nic Cari­ah, Yan­nick Ot­t­ley, Steven Kat­wa­roo, Teshawn Cas­tro, Sachin Boodram, Derone Davis, Kissoon­dath Ma­gram.

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Points stand­ings af­ter three rounds of match­es:

Ja­maica 21 pts,

Wind­ward Is­lands, 21,

Bar­ba­dos 18,

Guyana 15,

T&T 12,

Lee­ward Is­lands 3.

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Round Four Fix­tures: To­day, To­mor­row, Thurs­day.

Ja­maica v Wind­ward Is­lands at Beause­jour;

T&T v Lee­ward Is­lands at Gros Islet;

Guyana v Bar­ba­dos at Den­nery Play­ing Fields.