Queen's Park Cricket Club formally celebrated their second consecutive T&TCB Premier League title when they completed a four-wicket win over Esmeralda at the Queen's Park Oval in St Clair yesterday. The defending champs had already secured the crown on Saturday with their first innings lead putting them out of the reach of the second-placed Powergen, who trailed by 22 points. Queen's Park would have had their sights set on an innings victory when they took the field yesterday morning, having already secured a 101-run first innings advantage. However, Esmeralda opener Anthony Bramble made a counter-attacking 94 to rally his side to 209 all out and set the home team a potentially tricky 110 in 38 overs. Offspinner Amit Jaggernauth was deadly with the ball again, taking six for 67 to finish with match figures of 11 for 103. Set a modest target, QPCC got starts from captain Justin Guillen (22) and Akeal Hosein (22) but slipped to a vulnerable 66 for five and were later 75 for six when Daron Cruickshank (33 n.o.) joined Uthman Mohammed (8 n.o.) at the crease.
With the match poised for a tight finish, Cruickshank went about his business by taking 18 runs off an over by spinner Ricky Jaipaul, including two towering sixes over long on, and then blasting Kerwin Sirju for 12 in four balls to win the game. He ended the season in style by launching Sirju over the long on boundary as his teammates cheered him on from the pavillion. "I think this year was more challenging (than 2011)," said skipper Guillen after the game. "We were not as dominant with the bat as we would have liked to have been, but whenever we needed someone to put up their hand, they did it." Meanwhile at Pierre Road, Powergen crushed Alescon Comets by ten wickets to finish the league in second place.
After gaining a 20-run first innings lead on Saturday, they reduced Comets to 69 all out yesterday, thanks to legspinner Samuel Badree, whose eight for 33 took his match tally to an impressive 11 for 53. Openers Nicholas Sookdeosingh (25 n.o.) and Rajendra Chandrika (26 n.o.) then knocked off the small target of 52 with little fuss.
SCORES
At the Queen's Park Oval:
Esmeralda 106 (38) (T Castro 42, Vishan Jaggessar 21, F Baskh 19 n.o., Amit Jaggernauth 5-36, Uthman Mohammed 2-17) & 209 all out (Anthony Bramble 94, Vishan Jaggessar Kerwin Sirju 26, Amit Jaggernauth 6-67, Akeal Hosein 3-40) vs QPCC 207 all out (Marlon Barclay 38, Justin Guillen 35, Petrock Nicholas 31, Daron Cruickshank 26, R Jaipaul 5–51, A Mollon 3–38) & 110-6 (28) (Daron Cruickshank 33 n.o., Justin Guillen 22, Akeal Hosein 22).
Queen's Park won by four wickets.
At Honeymoon Park:
T&TEC 141 all out (Steven Jacobs 30, Jovon Seales 4–42) & 140 allout (Horace Miller 47, Rayad Emrit 47, Ken Hazel 7-11, Navin Stewart 2-16) vs Moosai Sports 165 all out (William Perkins 47, Navin Chan 41, Navin Stewart 19, V Krishnu 4-58, Vishan Ramroop 2-32) & 120-5 (20.5) (26) (William Perkins 49, Mario Belcon 24, Rayad Emrit 2-25, Vishan Ramroop 3-46). Moosai won by five wickets. Moosai - 23 pts, T&TEC - 5 pts
At Pierre Road:
Alescon Comets 96 all out (55.5) (Suruj Ragoonath 36, Samuel Badree 3–20, Veerasammy Permaul 3–20, Kavesh Kantasingh 2–21) & 69 all out (27.2)(Suruj Ragoonath 16, Kashtri Singh 12, Samuel Badree 8-33, Veerasammy Permaul 2-29) vs Powergen 116 all out (39.5)(Gregory Mahabir 45, Samuel Badree 26, Dinanath Ramnarine 16–1–55–5, Imran Khan 3–14) & 52-0 (11) (Nicholas Sookdeosingh 25 n.o., Rajendra Chandrika 26 n.o.). Powergen won by 10 wickets. Powergen - 22 pts, Comets - 3 pts.
At Invaders Ground:
SIS Central Sports 117 all out (46) (Gary Mathurin 40, Varendra Maharaj 28, Mahendra Nagamootoo 26, Mukesh Persad 3-31, Sanjiv Gooljar 3–40, Deron Davis 2–20) & 144 all out (Mukesh Persard 6-35) vs FCB Clarke Road 161 all out (57) (Sean Siloch 94, Lachana Ranga 30) & 57-8 (Gary Mathurin 4-25, Mahendra Nagamooto 3-20). Clarke Road - 15 pts, Central Sports - 8 pts.
At St Mary's Ground:
Clico Preysal 171 all out 56.5 (24) (Kjorn Ottley 80, Yannick Cariah 42, Miguel Ned 30, Javed Ramdhanie 8-51) & 37-0 (9.3) (Videsh Sookhai 25 n.o.) vs Ceramic Merryboys 140
(38.2)(Aaron Alfred 47, Frank Rouse 23, Videsh Sookhai 4-26, Yannic Cariah 2-12, Videsh Maharaj 2-24). Match Drawn. Merryboys - 5 pts
