After rain washed out the first match between Police Sports Club and Santa Cruz Sports Association in the North Zone T20 tournament opener on Sunday, at the Diego Martin Sporting Facility, Glenora Sports Club recorded a 39-run victory over Invincible.
Invincible skipper Raphael Ali won the toss and inserted Glenora. Glenora took advantage of some poor opening overs by Invincible and got off to a healthy start with openers Jesse Roland (16) and Isaiah Ali (12) scoring 36 before the fall of the first wicket. Glenora’s innings continued with a good run rate after losing both openers in the space of one run to Raphael Ali who had figures of 2/33 from his 4 overs.
Dusty Joseph took over and punished the Invincible bowlers for a top score of 60 from 43 balls while Philton Williams scored 26 n/o from his 10 deliverers to post a challenging 179/5 in their 20 overs.
The reply from Invincible started slowly with Kevin Singh 39 from 41 deliveries and Shamir Ali 16 from 15 balls. Their innings never got going and eventually got to 140/7 in their 20 overs. Glenora won by 39 runs.
The Member of Parliament for St Ann’s East, Nyan Gadsby-Dolly officially opened the tournament when she the players from both Glenora and Invincible teams and encouraged them to have an exciting and enjoyable tournament although she will support her constituents, Santa Cruz Sports Association. Also at the official opening were General Secretary of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board, Altaf Baksh, chairperson of the Prime Ministers Sport and Culture Fund, Debra Coryat-Patton and chairman of the Diego Martin Regional Corporation, Sigler Jack.
The teams on the show are, Police Sports Club, Santa Cruz Sports Association, Invincible Cricket Club, Glenora Sports Club, Pole 9, Barataria Ball Players, Savannah Boys, and Paragon Sports & Culture Club.
Several National League players have been recruited by the clubs, which will raise the level of play and excitement of the tournament. Police have on their roster, Rayad Emrit and Lendl Simmons while Santa Cruz has registered Darren Bravo and Tion Webster. This makes the opening encounter a mouth-watering affair.
The tournament continues weekly with the semi-finals on Labour Day, June 19 and the final on June 20.
The clubs are playing for the first prize of 10,000, second place $6,000 with losing semi-finalists getting $3,000.
The games will be streamed live on Cricket 360 which will give the players the added incentive to perform at their best.