BLESSED WITH cricketing pedigree, another young cricketer carrying the Lara name displayed his batting ability to guide the Queen’s Park Cricket Coaching School (QPCCS) of Trinidad and Tobago to their first title in the 24th Garfield Sobers International Schools Cricket Tournament.Savion Lara, a 17-year-old wicketkeeper/batsman from Santa Cruz, played probably the innings of his life with a match-winning unbeaten knock of 40 (5×4, 31 balls) as the Queen’s Park boys defeated Dulwich College of England by three wickets with six balls to spare in the final at Kensington Oval yesterday.Chasing Dulwich’s total of 160 in their allotted 40 overs, the Trinidadians slumped to 102 for seven, but Lara, a cousin of former West Indies captain Brian Lara, and allrounder Mikaeel Sookhoo (21 not out) took them home safely to the winning total of 163 for seven in 39 overs, sharing an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 61 runs.The partnership between Man Of The Match Lara, who came in at No. 8, and Sookhoo, took the match away from Dulwich, whose captain William MacVicar, had up to that stage, played a key all-round role, hitting the top score of an even 50 off 69 balls with four boundaries and taking two wickets in consecutive overs with his medium pace bowling.Opposing captain Khary Pierre, who was doing a repair job with the stylish right-hander Christian Herrera (42, 3×4, 69 balls) in a fifth-wicket stand of 49, was run out for 20, beaten by a direct throw in the covers as his partner called him through for a suicidal single.
But the left-handed Pierre then displayed some atrocious behaviour as he left the field and entered the dressing room, slamming his bat on the steps of the pavilion.MacVicar then shattered the stumps of new batsman Idrees Mohammed for a duck and made a telling strike when he also bowled Herrera. But Sookhoo joined Lara, who finished the game in style with three leg-side fours off MacVicar.Earlier, MacVicar stabilised his team’s innings before he was also run out at the bowler’s end by a throw from Sookhoo at short fine leg.Dulwich had started shakily, slipping to 18 for two as off-spinner Mohammed, who opened the bowling, removed openers Tom Deasy and Andrew Corbin cheaply.Best partnershipBarbadian Anthony Alleyne joined MacVicar and they featured in the best partnership of the innings, adding 42 for the third wicket before Mohammed claimed his third wicket while conceding 26 runs.Alleyne, who had driven and punched Mohammed for boundaries through extra cover, tried to cut a delivery much too close to him, but it bounced on him and he only succeeded in edging it into Lara’s gloves after making 17.After MacVicar departed, left-arm spinner Pierre had John Harvey caught behind by Lara, his third dismissal and bowled Josh Kelleher for 21 but Henry Cullum gave the innings a late boost, scoring 28 off 35 balls.Queen’s Park did not start their innings well, slumping to 15 for three as pacer Cullum, whose suspect bowling action may require remedial work, bowled openers Deon Smith and Jeremy Solozano while Harry Munton had left-hander Marc Panchu caught by wicketkeeper Kelleher.But the partnership between Pierre and Herrera, who impressed with some classic cover drives, followed by the Lara-Sookhoo winning effort, ensured the title remained in the hands of a Trinidadian side for the fourth straight year after the hat-trick of wins by the Trinidad and Tobago Under-17 side between 2007 and 2009.The best players in the tournament will play in a festival match today at Foursquare Oval, starting at 11 a.m.
