ST Catherine CC Captain Danza Hyatt said Monday’s 28-run win over the University of the West Indies (UWI) in the historic day/night final of the Jamaica Cricket Association’s (JCA’s) 50-over tournament capped off a strong showing from his team this season.

St Catherine survived a top-order slump to make 261-7 off their allotted 50 overs, before bowling out the university team for 233 with 13 balls to spare.

Scores: St Catherine 261-7 (50 overs); UWI 233 (47.5 overs).

Victory for St Catherine meant back-to-back limited-over titles, while first-time finalists UWI, guided by freshly appointed Jamaica Scorpions skipper Paul Palmer, earned admiration for battling all the way down to the final wicket.

St Catherine CC won the first prize award of $500,000, while UWI took home $250,000 for second place.

“We’re very delighted with the progress made throughout the season. We lost one game to [parish rivals] St Catherine CA [during the preliminary stage], but we worked hard after that. In the final we put it together, and I say hats off to the team,” Hyatt told the Jamaica Observer.

He said he knew UWI would be hard to beat, but explained that getting a total over 250 runs gave his team the upper hand.

“It’s a final, so playing a final you can’t expect to blow away a team. The UWI team fought hard and pushed us, but we stuck to the task and it shows the kind of experience that we have. This is the first time the top order never came up trumps, but I knew that if the guys spent time in the middle [batting] we’d score 250 and then scoreboard pressure would have a toll on UWI,” the victorious captain said, while adding that retaining the title was more difficult than winning it last season.

At the afternoon start on Monday, St Catherine CC won the toss and opted to bat first on a pitch that appeared to offer good pace and true bounce. But they struggled to 60-3 after UWI pacer Christopher Powell sent back opener Hyatt for zero and Kirk Edwards for four.

Fellow seamer Omar Samuels dismissed former Jamaica captain Tamar Lambert for 25.

Opener Shacoya Thomas, who was consistent for St Catherine throughout the season, was run out for 27 after a horrible mix-up left him and Gavin Wallace at the same end.

Wallace went for 41 at 113-5 in the 26th over.

However, Wayne Morgan and number seven batsman Peat Salmon (34) added 69 runs for the sixth wicket as St Catherine’s lower middle order put the batting back on track.

Morgan then partnered with wicketkeeper/batsman Darnell McCallum for an enterprising 58-run stand for the seventh wicket.

Morgan, who made 52 off 60 balls, which included four fours and a six, was neatly caught by Palmer — running around on the off-side — going for another big hit.

But the exclamation mark was tagged onto the rescue job when McCallum thumped the last ball of the innings, bowled by medium pacer Rovman Powell, into the stands behind the long-on boundary.

The six brought up McCallum’s half-century as he ended on 53 not out from 39 deliveries. He blasted four sixes and three fours in his knock.

Powell grabbed 2-55 off nine overs, while Samuels, and the off-spinning trio of Oshane Walters, Horaine Linton and Nicholas Walters all ended with one wicket to their names.

In reply, UWI were immediately rocked onto the back-foot as left-handed opener Palmer went for zero to the bowling of seamer Brian Buchanan via the lbw route.

The early innings travails continued as they crawled to 68-3 after 20 overs. Though no one made a big score, they managed to stay in touch, until all hope was doused in the 48th over.

Javaughn Buchanan (38), Chrishna Graham (37) and Rovman Powell (28) offered the main resistance.

Bowling for St Catherine, veteran wrist spinner Odean Brown grabbed 3-42, while off-spinner Salmon had 2-41 and medium pacer Morgan snared 2-42.