There will be a repeat of last year’s final of the Sir Garfield Sobers International Under-19 Cricket Tournament as The Hills Cricket Academy moved one step closer to retaining their title by defeating Christ Church Foundation School by 148 runs in Tuesday’s semi-final at the 3Ws Oval.
Steered by wicket-keeper batsman Advith Boreddy’s century, the Australian cricket team will meet 2024 runners-up New York Tri-State Youth Development in Thursday’s final at Kensington Oval.
Opting to bat first, Hills Cricket reached 253 for eight off their 40 overs, before dismissing the under-strength Foundation side for 105 in 33.5 overs.
Boreddy’s 130 from 112 deliveries, including six fours and three sixes, knocked out the Barbadian school which is also currently facing St Leonard’s Boys’ School in the two-day 2025 Student Revolving Loan Fund/Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) Under-15 Competition.
Batting at three, Boreddy put on 58 runs with opener Hamilton Seoung 17 (34), before a 65-run fourth-wicket partnership with Finn Bailey 28 (40). Then came an 81-run stand with Josh McDowell 37 (39) for the fifth-wicket.
Trevon Carrington, Reynaldo Bourne, and captain Romario Stoute took two wickets each for Foundation.
Without the presently engaged Barbados Under-19 captain Joshua Dorne and top-order batsman Kevion Newton, Foundation faltered in their reply with the only resistance coming from Asher Branford’s 36 off 75 balls.
Riley McDowell returned three wickets for 26 runs to lead the bowling charge for Hills Cricket, with support from Bailey and Naden Cooray who took two wickets apiece.
Elsewhere at Windward Club in Lucas Street, last year’s beaten finalists New York Tri-State stepped into the final with a seven-wicket win over the National Sports Council Under-17s.
Advith Boreddy of The Hills Cricket Academy blazed 130 from 112 balls against Foundation in the semi-finals of the Sir Garfield Sobers International Tournament. (RW)
Choosing to field first, NY Tri-State bowled out NSC U-17 for 165 in 38.5 overs. In reply, the visiting team cruised to 167 for three in 32.3 overs.
Wicket-keeping opening batsman Shiloh Adams hit 53 off 69 balls, while Ajay Prithiviraj made an unbeaten 50 in 51 deliveries as their 61-run third-wicket stand pushed the visitors to victory.
Earlier, NSC U-17 skipper and opener Izaiyah Goodman raised his bat for 50 from 54 balls.
However, Aarav Murphy (4/24) and Jayden Dowlin (3/32) stopped NSC U-17 in their tracks.
Head coach of The Hills Cricket Academy Nick Bertus is stoked that his boys will have the chance to play at the prestigious Kensington Oval and said the team has been enjoying Barbados.
“The boys are very excited, I’m excited. I played there when I was 16 which is 15 years ago, so it’s a great opportunity. Back home these boys don’t get the opportunity to play on major stadiums like that so it’s something that is a really big ‘carrot’ for the boys to play well and hopefully they can finish the job,” said Bertus who has represented New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield.
“It’s [Barbados] been great. This is our second time here, we won the tournament last year so we decided to send another team over and I actually think this year has probably been bigger and better than it was last year in terms of how the tournament has been run and structured. A lot of the grounds and wickets that we’ve played on, and the other teams have been really strong this season so our boys had a great time and the cricket has been great,” remarked the head coach who has also played for Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League.
“It [tournament] has been really competitive, pretty much every game has been pretty close. We lost our first match to Queen’s College who I thought were really good. They had some really good players and the boys probably struggled with a bit of jet lag, but the overall standard has been really, really good and definitely better than last year.”
In the 2024 final, The Hills Cricket Academy beat New York Tri-State Giants by two wickets on the VJD (V Jayadevan) method after the match was reduced to 30 overs at the 3Ws Oval.
rohansonnwaithe@barbadostoday.bb
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