Urban area champions Eltham High secured their spot in the semi-finals of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Twenty20 competition after defeating St Jago by five wickets at Chedwin Park yesterday.

Eltham, needing to win, made light work of their opponents on a well prepared surface, restricting them to a low total, before surpassing it with five wickets in hand and an over to spare.

Scores: St Jago 105-5 (20 overs); Eltham 106-5 (19 overs).

Coach Oral Simpson hailed his young bunch for a spirited performance and now has his sights set on their next task.

“I think the bowlers did really well throughout the game, we could have done better but restricting a good St Jago team to a low total is always commendable.

“I always have respect for Vere Technical because they have produced some good players over the years and with that respect, we are going to come and play how we know how to play as Eltham,” he told the Sunday Observer.

St Jago won the toss and taking first strike lost skipper Andre Fowler in third over with the score at 10, when he hit one in the wind off Ramone Francis and was caught by Craig Thomas at mid-off for five.

Patient partnerships between Ryan Harris, who topscored with 35, Sachin Taylor (18) and Sanjay Clunis (17) carried the Monk Street team to a respectable total. Chad Morgan was left not out on 10, while Ramone Francis topped the bowling with two for 18.

Eltham High began their reply positively, but Sachin Taylor was caught Jevel Innis off his own bowling for 15, with the score at 17 for one. Dillon Foster then removed Shaquille Brown in a similar fashion for seven to leave the score at 18 for two.

Shane Cole was next man out, when he looped one in the overcast sky and was caught by wicket-keeper Ryan Harris for two with the score there being 36 for three.

Ramone Francis and captain Dishane Patterson carved out a 36-run partnership for the fourth wicket, before Andre Fowler dismissed Francis for a topscore of 40 to leave the score at 70 for four. It then became 96 for five when fast bowler Dushane Carthy removed the off stump of Kevon Richards.

Patterson (29 not out) and Jerome Barton (eight not out) then carried Eltham past their target with one over to spare.

Wolmer’s scored a much needed seven-wicket win over Excelsior, which may have earned them a spot in the semi-finals in the Group Two pipe opener of the day.

Scores: (Excelsior 76 all out (18.4 overs); Wolmer’s 78-3 (11.4 overs).

Excelsior High, winning the toss and taking first strike, were bowled over for a paltry 76, which saw skipper Orande Pearson (15) and Romario Brown (14) as the only batsmen in double figures. Kenneth Forbes two for eight and Denniel Griffiths two for 11 led the assault for Wolmer’s.

The maroon-and-gold clad team led by a topscore of 37 by Sadique Henry and an unbeaten 25 by skipper Griffiths cruised to their target in the 12th over.

Winning coach Wayne Cuff said his team did exactly as planned and is looking forward to the potential semi-final battle against STETHS.

“We knew what we had to do, we didn’t take our opponents lightly and we came out and played some good cricket.

“STETHS is a good team and if we are to go up against them we have nothing to lose, we just have to turn up and play some good positive cricket,” he told the Observer.

The semi-finals will be contested on Saturday at venues to be announced.