– Latif and Blair lead Transport to easy win over Malteenoes

SIX wickets from 11-year-old leg-spinner Riyad Latif and a half-century from lower order batsman, Jeffery Blair, spurred Transport Sports Club to an easy win over Malteenoes Sports Club when action in the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) Friends of Cricket 100 overs U-17 tournament continued on Saturday at the MYO ground.

Transport won the toss and batted and although Shamar Yearwood played his part with the bat, his top order teammates fell short.  By the ninth over, the eventual winners were in serious trouble at 35-5, but DeAndre Linton, batting at number seven, added a sixth-wicket partnership of 51 with Yearwood who made 44 (7x4s, 1×6).  Linton with 48 (6x4s, 2x6s) and Nabeel Ali (4), who played a good supporting role, then added 37 for the seventh wicket before Blair, batting at number 10, took over.

Blair, known more for his right-arm fast bowling than his batting, frustrated his opponents as he belted three fours and an equal amount of sixes in an unbeaten score of 52.

Seventeen-year-old fast bowler Kester McAllister led Malteenoes’s attack with 4-49 from 8.2 overs, while Mervyn Permaul supported with 2-37 from nine overs.

Needing to score 191 for victory after bowling out Transport for 190 in 38.2 overs, Malteenoes rebounded after losing two quick wickets.  Permaul and Tathesh Shivrattan wrested back some control, but they had no answer for Latif, who destroyed the middle and lower order.

Permaul, who scored 44 (5x4s, 1×6) became a victim of Latif, while Shivrattan was run out for 26.

In total, Latif, who took five consecutive wickets, picked up six wickets for 11 runs from six overs as he helped to restrict Malteenoes for 112 in 27.1 overs.