Clarendon and Long Island won their semi final matches today to reach the final of the Michael Holding Masters Cricket Competition which is scheduled for this Saturday November 2 at Ultimate Oval in Discovery Bay, St. Ann starting at 10:30 am.
Clarendon and Long Island won their semi final matches today to reach the final of the Michael Holding Masters Cricket Competition which is scheduled for this Saturday November 2 at Ultimate Oval in Discovery Bay, St. Ann starting at 10:30 am.
In a repeat of last year’s semi final, joint defending champion South St. Elizabeth battled Clarendon and lost by seven wickets after winning the toss, batting and making just 108 all out in 22.4 overs. Earl Witter 54 top scored while Clevan Salesman 18 was the only other batsman to get into double figures. Derrick Spence bagged 4 for 7 in 1.4 overs and Devon Gordon assisted with 3 for 19 in 7 overs. Melbourne lost wickets early with just 4 runs on the board and continued losing wickets throughout the inning.
A confident Clarendon replied with 114 for 3 in 18.2 overs. Opener and captain Richard Watson 30 top scored while getting good support from Winston Osbourne 21 and Ferdinand Sappleton also 21. Paul Broomfield and Clevan Salesman accounted for the wickets one-a-piece. Clarendon batted quickly and raced to 54 before the first wicket went down. The second wicket was due to a suicide run by Watson who wanted to hasten his team’s long trek to the final.
The second semi final between joint defending champion Long Island and Queens was a high scoring match-up. Queens won the toss and batted making 105 for 6 in their 35 overs. Captain Dixierth Palmer 75 top scored and Roy Bryan 40 also made some runs. Gary Hewitt 2 for 46 in 6 overs was the most successful bowler.
Long Island then replied with a solid 206 for 4 in 31.5 overs to defeat Queens by 6 wickets. Delroy Morgan 77 not out top scored while captain Cliff Roye made 61. The wickets were shared one-a-piece among Michael Salmon, Lance Scarlett and Shedi Khan. Long Island thought losing its first wicket at 21 had a third wicket partnership of 137 to recover and eventually take the match.
Both captains were upbeat after the semi final matches, promising that they would be going all the way to win outright this year especially Clarendon who had lost in a previous final while noting that no local team has won the competition outright to date.
Saturday’s final between Long Island and Clarendon gets underway at 10:30 am at Ultimate Oval in St. Ann. The awards function will be held immediately after the match. Twelve scholarships of $50,000 will be presented to 12 cricketers in the Jamaica National Primary School Competition.
Photo: Members of the Clarendon Masters Team
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