NORTH SOUND, Antigua--St. Maarten U17 team won three out of four matches in the Leeward Islands Cricket Board (LICB) U17 tournament in Antigua. St. Maarten defeated Antigua, St. Kitts and Montserrat, but lost to Nevis in its opening match.
This is the most successful year for St. Maarten youth cricket team participation in LICB tournament. The youngsters defeated Antigua by 12 runs, St. Kitts by 92 runs and beat Montserrat by 91 runs in the final preliminary match.
The man of the match in the win against Antigua was Nathan Edward with two for 19, against St. Kitts Michael Palmer was the man of the match with a stroke-filled 63 and against Montserrat Nathan Edward collected the man of the match award again for 65 not out.
In the Montserrat match, the youth from the Friendly Island posted an imposing 171 for four off 25 overs.
Edward top scored with an unbeaten 65 off 72 balls (8x4). Captain Kyshawn Charles with a fluent 56 off 45 balls (6x4, 1x6) combined with Edward to help St. Maarten post the challenging score after the team was in trouble at 57 for four off 10.5 overs. The two players batted the rest of the overs to help the team post that winning total.
Montserrat was bowled out for just 80 off 23.3 overs. Off spinner Rudesh Ramraj was the best bowler for St. Maarten with three for 12 off five overs.
The bowling figures of the other wicket takers were medium pacer Chemeiko Landefort 2-0-14-2, medium pacer Edward 3-1-3-1, left arm spinner Amarius Harris 4-1-5-1, left arm medium pacer Is-Real Morton 0.3-0-2-1, leg spinner Devanand Singh 1-0-5-1 and medium pacer Kyshawn Warner 5-0-22-1.
After the four innings, the top three batsmen for St. Maarten were Edward, Palmer and Charles. The aggregate of Edward was 103 runs, Palmer 93 runs and Charles 68 runs.
The top wicket takers were Ramraj with 11 wickets, Harris with seven and Landefort with six wickets.
The members of the successful team attend different secondary schools on St. Maarten. From St. Maarten Academy (Academic Section) are Kyshawn Charles (Captain), Devanand Singh and Chemeiko Landefort; from the PSVE Section is Kyshawn Warner; from Sundial is Nathan Edward; from St. Maarten Vocation Technical School are Randel Longville and Michael Palmer; from St. Dominic Secondary is Rudesh Ramraj and MAC Comprehensive Secondary Education are Samuel Morton and his younger brother Is-Real Morton.
Amarius Harris and Amarlie Harris attend school on the French side. T’yanick Honore is the only primary school player. He attends Orange Primary School.
A huge welcome party of parents and cricket officials welcomed the successful team at the airport on Sunday night.