Fire Service Northern Division Sports Club

NORTH FOOTBALL GOES OFF IN BARATARIA

Match #1 of the Northern Division 7-a-side Football League went off with three matches on Monday night at the Barataria Oval.

The opening match pitted North HQ rivals White Watch Eagles and Black Watch the Bravest against each other, with the Eagles coming out on top 4-0 in the Group B encounter.

Dwayne Howard netted twice for the Eagles. Dwayne Thomas and veteran Othieno Manuel completed the rout.

An own goal from a corner swung in from Ishmael Daniel setback the Chaguaramas Outkast in their match against the Belmont Biohazards, before Russell Gilkes scored a second goal that put the East Port of Spain side on their way to their first Group B win.

Akil Kirby offered the Biohazards a scare when he pulled back a goal for the Outkast but when the final whistle was blasted, Belmont were 2-1 winners.

The night ended in disappointment for those who came out to spectate, as the Arima Players failed to show for their Group B match against HQ Blue Steel. The two-time champions started with a 3-0 gift.

Matchday 2 is Wednesday when six more teams with start their campaign at the 2024 title. The first match pits two-time champions Santa Cruz Cruzers against defending champions San Juan Defenders of D North, starting at 6.30 pm in Group A.

In the second match, that gets going from 7.30 pm, the Sangre Grande Strikers take on the 8-4 Blazers, also in Group A. In Group B, the Four Roads Swordsmen and the HQ Red Rockets will go after each other in the final match, starting from 8.30 pm.

ONE OF TWO PLAYED IN NORTH BASKETBALL OPENING NIGHT

The opening night of the Fire Service Association II/Northern Division 4x4 Basketball League got off to a bittersweet start on Thursday night at the Mt. Lambert Community Basketball Court in Mt. Lambert, as only one of the two scheduled games was played.

Only two players representing the 8-4 Blazers were present for their fixture against the Tunapuna Warriors in the first scheduled game. The officials called the game at the end of the ten-minute grace period and awarded the win to the Warriors.

Debutants to the tournament, the Sangre Grande Gladiators took two-time runners-up, the HQ Blue Steel, to overtime before Maurice Francis sent the Gladiators on their way.

Brian Homeward led Sangre Grande with seven points, while Collin Cadette had six at the end of regulation. However, Francis scored the two consecutive baskets that was necessary to end the sudden death-type overtime. Francis would ultimately leave the court with 15 points in the 19-17 win.

The tournament continues on Friday with another two games. At 7 pm, the Arima Elites will try to get over on the defending champions, Chaguaramas Outkasts. Then later, the Gladiators will make the trek back to Mt. Lambert to take on former champions, the Santa Cruz Cruzers, from 8 pm.

GLADIATORS DETHRONE BLUE STEEL

The Sangre Grande Gladiators rebranded themselves for the 2024 Northern Division Windball Cricket Championship and after a stumble midway through the tournament played like they were on a mission and eventually captured the title Northern Division title they coveted the most last Sunday, as they defeated, then, five-time defending champions, the HQ Blue Steel, at Constantine Park by five wickets.

The Gladiators won the toss and decided to allow the champions to bat first, restricted the Kadeem Williams-led outfit to 96 for six, after they had gone over 100 in the last three matches. Williams, himself, led his team with 36*. Elwin Mitchell was the best of the Gladiator’s bowlers, taking two for 24.

Keeda Woods, who had been on a tear in the final five games for the Sangre Grande team, was not as potent with the bat in the final but his focus seemed to be contagious.

Woods only contributed 12 runs and might have feared reliving the 2017 championship match against the Blue Steel where, the then Strikers, played well but lost with a final ball six off the bat of Hayden Sookraj.

But there would be no such drama against Sangre Grande, as veteran of the tournament, even prior to Sangre Grande’s first involvement in 2016, Carla Bolah topped them with 18 runs to set them up for a Cunapo-type celebration.

Aided by an uncharacteristically untidy bowling performance for the Blue Steel that yielded 30 runs from extras, the Gladiators stormed the field in ecstasy upon Jamal Jeremiah carting B Sookhan for a boundary to put the Gladiators at 100 for five, giving them their first Windball Cricket title and second Northern Division title of any kind. Sangre Grande becomes only the second sub-station to win the title after Santa Cruz pulled off the feat twice in 2014 and 2015.

The Kenny Gopaul Most Valuable Player award for excellence in the Championship match was captured by Carla Bolah for her knock, also making her the first female to win the title. Skipper Keeda Woods might have been more enamored with winning the championship than being the MVP of the tournament.

Congratulations to the Sangre Grande Gladiators on capturing the 2024 Northern Division Windball Cricket Championship!

[A relief after years of coming close, the Sangre Grande Gladiators are the champions of Northern Division cricket]

BLUE STEEL INTO THE TITLE GAME YET AGAIN

The HQ Blue Steel is looking to take their dominance of the Northern Division Windball Championship to unassailable heights. On Sunday, they outlasted the HQ White Eagles to advance to the championship match for the sixth straight year and the eighth time in the ten-year history of the tournament.

The Eagles chose to send in the champs to have the first strike. However, that plan backfired as they the Blue Steel assembled an impressive batting performance, which started with an opening stance between Jeremy Carter and Colina Bacchus, which was worth 54 runs from 35 balls.

The Blue Steel got 24 from the bat of Bacchus and 21 from Carter. Later in the inning, veteran Kylie Sylvester keep the fielders busy on his way to 25*, to lead his team to 115 for four.

When talisman Keegan Delandro was dismissed in the first over, the Eagles might have felt some deja vú for their 2019 semi-final meeting with their HQ rivals.

Duane Thomas and Gail-Ann Thomas did put on a 39-run partnership to keep the Eagles in the hunt. Duane Thomas led them with 32, while his female namesake had 15.

When Othieno Manuel came to the crease to pair with Duane Thomas, they put on 44 runs for the third wicket. However, those runs came at a pace that was too pedestrian to challenge the target. Both batsmen, in an attempt to pick up the pace were run out and eventually, the Eagles landed short of the target at 97 for four. The Blue Steel won the match by 18 runs.

The championship match, which is yet to be scheduled, will be a rematch of the 2017 championship between the Blue Steel and Sangre Grande, then called the Strikers. On that occasion, the Blue Steel got a 5-wicket win to win the second of, what would eventually be, five consecutive titles.

WOODS TAKES GLADIATORS INTO NORTHERN DIVISION FINALS

A blistering counter from Keeda Woods led the Sangre Grande Gladiators into their first Northern Division Windball Cricket Championship match since 2017, when they got the better of the HQ Red Rockets in the first semi-final on Friday night at the Tyro Recreation Ground.

The Red Rockets, trying to get back to a third Championship game in the last four championships, batted first and got an even 50 from former MVP Giovanni Sylvester, as they finished with the very competitive total of 122 for six. Adasha Norton gave her team 13.

However, the Gladiators answered through Woods, who himself was only dismissed once in his team’s last four matches, batted through the inning and went off for 53*.

His main support came towards the end of the inning when Sean Bissoon gave them 25 before he was run out. Sangre Grande got to 124 for four with five balls to spare to take them to only their second championship match.

Headquarters North will have a representative in this year’s championship tilt, as the second semi-final will feature rivals the HQ White Eagles and the defending champions HQ Blue Steel. That game will be played today at Constantine Park in Macoya, starting at 7 pm.

[The Sangre Grande Gladiators will looking intently to see who will stand in their way of the 2024 Northern Division Windball Cricket Championship]

DOUBLEHEADER AT MACOYA AS GROUP STAGE WINDS DOWN

As the initial stage of the North Division Windball Cricket Championship winds nears its close, two matches were played that had no implications on advancement were played on Sunday at Constantine Park in Macoya.

The 8-4 Blazers finished their season with a 78-run win over the Belmont Biohazards in the first match of the afternoon.

Rishard Mohammed and Kendell Duberrry scored 34 and 32, respectively, to take the Blazers to 161 for two batting first in the match.

Ishmael Daniel got 18 runs for the winless Biohazards, who were restricted to 83 for five to drop another one, setting up a season-finale clash of winless teams on Friday with the San Juan Defenders of D North.

The late match saw Keeda Woods get his first half-century of the tournament but fell short of taking the run-scoring as the Sangre Grande Gladiators prepared for the semi-finals with a 92-run win over the Chaguaramas Outkasts.

East got the better of west after the Gladiators got 51 from Woods to lift his team to 138 for six.

The Outkasts’ inning only lasted into the ninth over. They crumbled to a paltry total of 46 with no batsman reaching double-figures. Dirkson Reece had his three-wicket haul of the championship, with three for seven from only 2.3 overs.

Gladiators secured third place in the standings and will be prepare for a semi-final battle with the HQ Red Rockets when the date for the semi-final is announced.

[The Gladiators and Outkasts come together after Sunday's match]

THE MAESTRO LEADS THE CHAMPS TO CRUSHING WIN OVER DEFENDERS

The reigning batting champion and captain of the HQ Blue Steel, Kadeem ‘Maestro’ Williams, got himself ready for the semi-finals with his second half-century of the 2024 Northern Division Windball Cricket Championship to carry his squad past the San Juan Defenders of D North on Friday night at the Tyro Recreation Ground in Bourg Mulatresse.

Williams now leads all batsmen with 288 runs after a not-out inning of 59, that contained seven big-flies, as the champs hung 145 runs on the scoreboard for the loss of four wickets, of a game that was truncated to ten overs. With Williams at the crease, the final three overs went for 46 runs.

Colina Bacchus took the opportunity to pad her batting stats against the winless Defenders by touching them up for 20 runs, herself.

The Blue Steel did the unprecedented and opened the bowling with two females: Bacchus and Simone Morgan. The pair delivered combined figures of one wicket for 24 runs in four overs. Morgan had Keisha Robertson caught for one in the fourth over.

Handel Manswell decided that, with nothing to lose, he would exploit the experiment in the hope his team could pull off the upset.

Manswell batted though the inning, hit three fours and four sixes in an unbeaten knock of 54. But it proved that he was the only offensive force for the Defenders, as they pulled up lame at 103 for four to lose by 42 runs.

The match was their final one for the Blue Steel before the semi-finals. They are the top-seeded team in the tournament and will await the winner of the HQ White Eagles-Santa Cruz Cruzers match to see who they will be standing in their path to sixth consecutive final.

Fans of the championship will be flocking to the venue yet-to-be-determined for the final match involving the Defenders, because that match will against the fellow-winless Belmont Biohazards on Wednesday in Macoya.

SOARING RED ROCKETS LEAVE EAGLES IN DESPERATE SITUATION

The HQ Red Rockets finished their preliminary involvement in the 2024 Northern Division Windball Cricket Championship with a seven-wicket win over their HQ North rivals, the White Eagles on Friday night at the Tyro Recreation Ground in Bourg Mulatresse.

In their penultimate match of the group stage, the Eagles needed to win to have the inside track on the Santa Cruz Cruzers, when they face each other next week for the right to claim the final semi-final place in the tournament.

The Eagles batted first and managed 90 for six in their inning. They were again led by Keegan Delandro, who had 16 and Othieno Manuel, who got to 15.

Adasha Norton continued to make her push for the female MVP of the championship, when, for the third time, she took three wickets in a match. Her line read three wickets for 16 runs from three overs. Norton will finish among the top wicket-takers for the season with her 17 from her 22.5 overs.

She did not have factor her bat in the match, as Lana Mark took her place high in the Red Rockets batting order and contributed eight runs. Both Kiel Murray and Kern Quamina led the way with 17 each, as the Red Rockets got to 92 for three in 10.1 overs to complete their group-play with eight wins and two losses.

Only if the HQ Blue Steel lose their final match to last-place San Juan Defenders of D North badly, can the Red Rockets finish first place. They can finish worse than third.

The writing is on the wall for the Eagles: beat the gritty Cruzers and they are into the final four. That game is carded for Wednesday at Constantine Park.

ELITES CONSOLE THEMSELVES WITH WIN OVER OUTKASTS

The Arima Elites finished their 2024 Northern Division Windball Cricket Championship campaign with a five-wicket win over the Chaguaramas Outkasts on Thursday afternoon at Constantine Park in Macoya.

Kenneth Stewart and Everson Barran started the Outkasts positively with scores of 10 and 15, respectively, which laid the foundation for them to reach a very competitive 105 for nine. Kenwyn Sampson chipped in with eleven.

Elites’ captain Dwight Hayling, who came on strong to the end of the tournament, took three wickets for 19 runs in three overs. Andrew Loman also had a great afternoon with the ball in his grip. He took three for 16 from three.

Rennison Ramsey, who was a valuable asset with the bat for Arima throughout the tournament, led them with 21. Hayling added another 13* to the cause, as the Elites got the 106 for five in 8.3 overs to take the match comfortably.

Both came into the game already eliminated from contention.