South Star, Orange Hill eye 20/20 spoils
SOUTH Star of Manchester and Orange Hill off Westmoreland will meet in the final of the SDC-sponsored National Community Cricket 20/20 competition after scoring semi-finals wins at the Ultimate Jerk Centre playing field in Discovery Bay last Sunday.
The grand final is scheduled to be played this Sunday at Alpart Sports Club in St Elizabeth, starting at 2:00 pm.
The finalists will be vying for the first-prize cash award of $500,000 and the National Championship Trophy, while the losing finalists will collect $300,000 and a trophy.
The first semi-final between Orange Hill and Cheesefield of St Catherine saw an exciting run chase. It ended with Orange Hill winning by to wickets in the final over with four balls to spare.
Batting first, Cheesefield made 154-5 off their allotted 20 overs. National player Danza Hyatt was the main contributor with 76, including six sixes and two fours.
Trescott Robinson made 22 not out, Gavin Wallace 20 and Desmond Dillon 19, while Nico Banton took 2-11.
In reply, Orange Hill lost wickets regularly before finally winning in the final over. Adrian Thompson, 40, Jason Thompson, 39 and Ewan Andrews, 28, were the main run-getters. Hyatt took 2-21, Wallace 2-20 and Kirk Douglas 2-22 for the losers.
In the other semi-final, South Star defeated Mount Olivet of St Ann by 106 runs. Batting first, South Star amassed a quickfire 204-7 with Courtney Allen blasting a rapid 83, including eight towering sixes and five fours.
Courtney Francis chipped in with 56 in a third-wicket stand of 115 which pushed them past the 200-run mark. Desmond McNab took 3-32.
Mount Olivet never looked likely to get such a mammoth total as they needed to score 10 runs per overs and were bowled out for 99 in 15.2 overs.
Martin Clarke with 17 and McNab 14 were the main contributors, with extras totalling 26. Christopher Gayle took 3-13 and Prince Bloomfield 3-20.
Cheesefield and Mount Olivet will play-off for third and fourth places at 10:00 am. The third placed team will pick up $150,000 and a trophy.
Meanwhile, each of the winning 15 parish winners will receive $50,000. A total of over 350 community-based team participated in the competition.
The sponsors this year are the SDF, SDC, Singer, Juici Patties, LASCO Remittance, Longo Stitch, Gaspro, HITZ 92 FM and TVJSN.
