Trinidad & Tobago and Windward Islands lock horns in Rising Stars U19 5th and 6th place decider

Trinidad & Tobago and Windward Islands lock horns in Rising Stars U19 5th and 6th place decider 

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – Fourth round action in the West Indies Rising Stars U19 Championship starts today with the fifth vs sixth play-off game between the hosts Windward Islands and Trinidad & Tobago at Cumberland. After three rounds of play Windward Islands had 15.4 points and Trinidad & Tobago secured 13.4 points.

Trinidad & Tobago coach Amin Forgenie and Windward Islands coach Clifford Thomas spoke to CWI Media reviewing their team's performances and shared their thoughts ahead of this encounter.

Photo: Coach Amin Forgenie and the Trinidad & Tobago U19 team (CWI Media/ShotsByKJ)

“The evidence proves that our team has improved with every match they played. In the last game against Leeward's, our batters made better decisions regarding their shot selection, and this allowed us to establish more partnerships during our innings.  This is key to building big totals, as we achieved a 250 plus score for the first time in the Tournament,”, said Forgenie. “I am proud of the performances of the team considering this was a new format to them and our preparations were severely hampered by the weather.  Overall, this tournament would have provided great experience to them and play a large part in their development as young cricketers. In this final game I am hoping for continuous improvement to again take us to a potential match winning position … it would be nice to finish on top. They owe it to themselves, their parents and everyone who would have invested in them.”

Windward Islands will also be looking for a win to end the tournament on a high. Coach Thomas said the team includes several leading players who have performed well in the earlier matches.

“At this stage of the tournament we have had some bright spots in Ackeem Auguste who left for the CPL, Stephan Pascall, Ethan Gibson, and Noelle Leo, all in the top 10 performance as it relates to the batting statistics.  We also have Tarrique Edwards, who is presently at the competition second leading wicket-taker with 14 wickets, with a best performance of 8-75 versus Leeward Islands,” said Thomas. “So these are some bright spots. Even after we lost against Jamaica, we came back against Barbados and really showed what we made of. Basically, now we will look to take the positives from our games against the Leeward's, Barbados and Jamaica, take that into the game against Trinidad and Tobago and just hope that the boys can really bring their best game for this last round of match.”

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

Rajeev Ramnath #87 (Captain)

Andrew Rambaran #16

Narad Kissoondath #80

Zachary Siewah #14

Nick Ramlal #17

Vasant Singh #19

Jacen Agard #26

Ricardo Chase #20

Justin Jagessar #98

Kyle Ramdoo #46

Joshua Davis #45

Veeran Batchu #74

Orlando James #10

Joshua James #21

Coach: Amin Forgenie 

WINDWARD ISLANDS

Stephan Pascal #7

Edmund Morancie #9

Divonie Joseph #18

Devin Tyson #40

Kirt Murray #5

Jerel Jeremiah #2

Keshon Andrew #6

Kervin Gassie #8

Tarrique Edward #31

Noelle Leo #4

Luke Wilson #16

Solomon Bascombe #17

Ethan Gibson #23

Coach: Clifford Thomas