Clarendon and Long Island won their semi-final matches on Thursday to reach the final of the Michael Holding Masters Cricket Competition which is scheduled for today at Ultimate Oval in Discovery Bay, St Ann, starting at 10:30 am.

In a repeat of last year’s semi-final, joint defending champions 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, topscored, 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 seven overs. Melbourne lost wickets early with just four runs on the board and continued losing wickets throughout the innings.

A confident Clarendon replied with 114 for 3 in 18.2 overs. Opener and captain Richard Watson, 30, topscored 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 champions Long Island and Queens was a high-scoring match-up. Queens won the toss and made 105 for 6 in their 35 overs. Captain Dixieth Palmer, 75, topscored, 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 six wickets. Delroy Morgan, 77 not out, topscored, while captain Cliff Roye made 61. The wickets were shared one-a-piece among Michael Salmon, Lance Scarlett and Shedi Khan. Long Island, though losing their 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.

The awards function will be held immediately after the match. Scholarships of $50,000 will be presented to 12 cricketers in the Jamaica National Primary School Competition.