ORANDE Pearson highlighted the opening day’s play in the 2017 Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Grace Shield cricket final by taking a hat-trick in his five-wicket haul for Papine High against St George’s College at the Melbourne Oval yesterday.

Pearson’s hat-trick came in his 19th over, and after lunch when he sent back three batsmen in three consecutive balls with two going without scoring. He captured five wickets for 41 runs off 21 overs, which prevented St George’s College from making a decent score in their first innings.

Papine High raced past St George’s College’s total of 168 all out off 57 overs by reaching 242 for five wickets off 43 overs at the close, for a lead of 74 runs coming into this morning’s second day’s play which begins at 10:00.

Meanwhile, Papine’s coach Shane Brooks said right now his team is in a very good position but he would like to add 100 more runs to take a firm control of the match.

“I would like to increase the lead to around 180 and then put the pressure on St George’s when they bat a second time. Presently we have the advantage going into the second day’s action,” Brooks said.

St George’s College’s assistant coach John Gordon said things are not looking so good at this stage but he would be looking for the players to fight back strongly as they did against Wolmer’s in their semi-final last week Wednesday.

“The players batted badly and they bowled poorly. We will need to try and get some wickets quickly and prevent Papine’s lead to past the hundred mark, then we have to erase the lead and give them enough runs to chase to give ourselves a winning chance,” Gordon said.

Papine won the toss and invited St George’s College to have first strike, and at one stage they were going well being 72 for two wickets. Opener Kirk McKenzie with 48 (five fours and two sixes), and Georgdae Seymour with 46 not out (five fours) were the main scorers for St George’s College. Rushawn Lee took two for 21 off 9.5 overs to be the next best bowler behind Pearson’s five-wicket haul.

Papine began their strong reply by easily dispatching the St George’s College’s bowling to all parts of the ground with openers Raymond Hall and Pearson leading the way.

The two pushed Papine’s score past the 50-run mark after only eight overs. They lost their first wicket at 84, that of Pearson for 46, which included four fours and two sixes. Papine’s 100 came off 12 overs.

Papine lost their second wicket at 129 with Hall being bowled by a beauty from pacer Hakeem Francis for 57 with seven fours and two sixes. Romario Lynch came into the picture to continue punishing the bowlers before he went for a well-played 61 runs, with seven fours and three sixes with the score on 172.

Captain Andre Bailey with 32 not out, and Dwayne Moore with 12 not out will resume Papine’s first innings this morning. Kirk McKenzie was the most successful bowler for St George’s College with two wickets for 68 runs.