AN impressive 12-wicket haul by Michael Frew spurred St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) to their second-consecutive Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Spalding Cup title as they defeated Campion College by an innings and 202 runs on day two at Melbourne Cricket Club yesterday.

The win has now seen the Santa Cruz-based school win seven titles from their last 10 finals.

After posting a mammoth 458-9 declared on Tuesday’s first day, STETHS enforced the follow-on after restricting their opponents to 143-9 in their first innings. Frew, who led the first innings onslaught with 5-15, then bagged 7-33 to end with a match haul of 12-48 as Campion College, batting without Kyle Pottinger who suffered an injury to his left hand on the first day, were dismissed for 113-9.

Scores: STETHS 458-9 dec; Campion College 143-9 & 113-9.

Winning captain Ramaal Lewis was elated by the victory.

“It feels pretty great to finish off my last season at the schoolboy level on a high. I was off the field for a while and I saw that the wickets had dried up, so I went back out there and just told my team to build pressure.

“Because in schoolboy cricket once you build pressure they will look to do all sorts of stuff, so we just went out there, maintained some pressure and got the job done. He (Michael Frew) is a great bowler; just came in from the West Indies camp…I think he learnt a lot of stuff there, so he just came and executed it here,” Lewis told reporters.

Donald Bredwood, coach of Campion College, felt his team failed to play consistently, which resulted in the comprehensive loss.

“It is very disappointing, but these guys are young and most of them are in learning stage. I think they need to get a little tougher and to know that cricket is not an easy game, so you have to play hard and consistently and that was our downfall we did not play consistent cricket,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Resuming on an overnight score of five without loss, openers Dominik Samuels and Saad Ahmad were both solid at the start and seemed set to give Campion College a useful start on what was a good-looking surface despite a slight damp from the overnight rain.

However, they only managed to add 10 to the overnight score as Samuels was run out for four by Leonardo Salmon, who was superb in the field at backward point. Ahmad and wicketkeeper batsman Neil Johnson came together and played some beautiful strokes as they added 25 for the second wicket.

A quick adjustment in the field by captain Lewis brought the breakthrough as he had Ahmad caught at forward short-leg by Peter Brown with the score at 40-2. Johnson and his captain Abhijai Mansingh steadied the innings with a 53-run third-wicket stand after they both survived drop chances.

Despite the odd loose shots, the two were compact in building their partnership with a flurry of well-timed drives. But just when things were looking up for Campion College, Odain McCatty held on to one in the cover region to remove Mansingh for 32 off Lewis.

Johnson later fell five runs short of what would have been a well-deserved half-century when he was undone by a quicker delivery from Lewis to leave the score at 106-4. Kevon Stewart then became the first of Michael Frew’s five victims when he was caught in the slip cordon by Lewis for eight, as Campion College went to the break at 108-5.

The Liguanea-based boys fell in deeper trouble after the interval when Atishai Mansingh was trapped in front for four by Frew to leave the score at 111-6. Shemar Thompson (11) and Christopher Martin (15) put together a seventh-wicket cameo of 23 runs before they both fell to the bowling of Frew.

And the innings was eventually wrapped up when Frew, bowling his off-spin, had Jahiel Smith caught by McCatty for a duck. Jesse James was left not out on two.

Lewis bowled eight maidens in his 21 overs and ended with 3-35.

Batting a second time, Campion College got off to a miserable start at five for one in the first over of the innings. Ahmad (four) was beautifully caught by Romaine Morris in the slip cordon off Michael Simpson. Abhijai Mansingh joined Samuels and the two went about business compiling 74 runs for the second wicket.

But as it was in the first innings, Mansingh, having laid the platform, failed to push on as he was caught by Brown off Frew for 36. Johnson failed to stick around as he too was caught by Brown off Frew for seven to leave the score at 100-3.

With runs slow in coming, frustration got the better of Samuels on 48 and he went for a big hit and was caught at mid-off by Tajae Whyte with the score at 105-4. Campion College lost wickets at quick intervals as Frew ripped through the remainder of the line-up.