da betobet： It’s been delayed by almost a month
Haydn Gill04-Sep-2001It’s been delayed by almost a month. But it has made no difference tothe approach and enthusiasm of the two teams in the annual Cable &Wireless Under-15 cricket final starting today.And one thing’s for certain the name which is etched onto the trophywill be one that has never been engraved there before.The Lodge School in St John and Queen’s College in St James arecontesting the final for the first time in the history of thetournament which was first sponsored by the telecommunications company15 years ago.The match, originally set for August 7-9 was initially put back by aweek. But it was further delayed to allow both teams to be at fullstrength. Had it been played from August 14-16 both schools would havebeen affected by the absence of players on tour in England with theNational Sports Council’s (NSC) Under-13 team.Those players have returned to the island and the stage is set forwhat is anticipated to be a competitive three-day final.We expect to win, even though we would have been better off playingstraight after the semifinal, said Rory Sidaway, the man in charge ofQueen’s College. We had just thrashed St Leonard’s and we were feelinggood. We’ve been practising hard. We have maintained the momentum asbest we can and we are ready to beat Lodge.Sidaway’s counterpart Clifton Phillips was just as upbeat. Our chancesare pretty good. We’ve worked hard throughout the season and the guyshave really responded well. This is what it all comes down to, so oncewe execute, we can come out on top.The Lodge appear to be the team which might have been most affectedhad the match gone ahead when the NSC squad was on tour.Queen’s College are welcoming back their leading wicket-takerChristopher Jordan, while Lodge had three boys in England ShamarhBrooks, Chad Linton and Dawayne Sealy.I don’t see it (the delay) as being either positive or negative,Phillips said.We are taking it in stride. Fortunately a number of our players areinvolved in the second division and we’ve had some good practices inbetween.Queen’s College have not been known to be powerhouses in schools’cricket but they have reached this far on the strength of hard work,regular practice and playing to their potential.They have been playing to their ability, Sidaway said. We bat welldown the order. We have a good bowling attack and we’re veryconfident.Among their leading players in the prelimina-ries were captain KerwinElias (243 runs), Nicholai Parris (199) and Nicholas Stanford (187).Apart from Jordan, the bowling revolved around off-spinning allrounder Niaz Dokrat (21 wickets) and medium-pacer Mario Gill (18).The Lodge’s top run-scorer was captain, wicket-keeper, opening batsmanand Barbados Under-15 selectee Nicholas Squires. He made 327 runsincluding a highest score of 130 to go with 17 dismissals behind thestumps.Brooks, one of the island’s gifted young talents, made 118 runs andtook 35 wickets with his leg-breaks, while all-rounder Andre Gillweighed in with 142 runs and 15 wickets.It has been a team effort really. We don’t have one really outstandingplayer at this stage, Phillips said.Quite a few people have gotten wickets at different stages and almostall the batsmen have had score of significance.