Sports Minister led Togetherness Youth to Victory

Saturday saw a top of the table clash in Group A in the Honourable Shawn Edward 50 Over Tournament held in the Mabouya Valley, between Togetherness Youth & Veterans with the former enjoying a 146 run victory.
Togetherness Youth won the toss and elected to bat in bright sunshine and got off to a solid 61 run opening partnership. The heavens then opened after the first hour and the match was subsequently reduced to 45 Overs due to the interruption. A combination of luck for Veterans and the ball misbehaving on the pitch because of some moisture, soon had Togetherness Youth’s players with hearts in mouth as they quickly slid to 94 for 4.
Martin Francis (40) and Kemrol Charles (38) combined to add some quick runs. However just as their partnership of 60 threatened to take the game away, the former was out LBW.
The script could not have been written any better. In walked Shawn Edward, the Minister of Youth Development & Sports who is also the Parliamentary Representative and tournament sponsor, with his team in desperate need for someone to stabilise the innings. Between being dropped on three occasions and surviving a stumping opportunity, he played some beautiful shots to end up with the top score of 56. Burch Francis also hit a quick fire 36 to add some invaluable runs as they amassed a final total of 289 runs from 39.2 overs.
Allen Donavan led the Veterans bowlers with four for 68. He was ably supported by Clement Alexander three for 31 and Linus Velinor who had no less than three catches and two stumping chances missed off his bowling. He finished with two for 52 with Timothy Bispart also getting one wicket.
Facing an imposing total, Veterans had to be at their best in order to give themselves a chance. When they lost their first wicket with only 11 runs on the board, their backs were always against the wall. Their cause was not helped either when they suffered two totally unnecessary run outs.
Curtis Torille hit 29 runs at the top of the order, whilst Velinor rolled back the years with some crisp shots and clean hitting to score 43 unbeaten runs. He was to the only batsmen who got into double figures.
Veterans also benefited from some 33 extras which were welcome. When Velinor eventually ran out of partners, they had folded for 143 off 32.3 overs. He was left only to contemplate what would have been a very well deserved half century.
Man of the Match, Kemrol Charles cleaned up the Veterans’ tail to finish with four for 12. Garvin Jn Baptiste grabbed three for 26, whilst Shane Edwin had one for 17 to account for the wickets as Togetherness Youth’s leading bowlers.
The tournament continues on Saturday when Mabouya Valley Under -19 face Chesters.