Manchester were crowned champions of the 28th Kingston Wharves Under-15 Cricket Competition after defeating Kensington by six wickets at Kensington Cricket Club in Kingston on Friday.

Kensington, playing in the competition for the first time, entered the final unbeaten after defeating another newcomer, Melbourne in their semi-final. They won the toss and batted. They made a respectable 147 for 7 in 40 overs on the backs of Shamar Philips with 34, Loran Thomas with 31, Demario McCarthy with 30, and Theneri Blake with 20 after he retired hurt. The bulk of the wickets to fall went to Sanjay Walker with five for 20 in seven overs.

Kensington started strongly getting to 94 before the first wicket fell. The second wicket went down at 114 and the remainder at regular intervals after that.

Manchester also started strongly, losing their first wicket at 55, while the second went down at 91. They then made steady progress to end the inning at 151 for 4 in 38.1 overs. Sanjay Walker with 45 ended the inning in style when he hit the first six of the final. He received good support from Dwayne Morgan (38) and opener Oneil Roberts (21). The wickets went to Alex Hinds (1-17-8) and Demario McCarthy (1-31-7), while there were two run outs.

Macky Barnes, technical director for youth cricket in Manchester, was pleased with his team’s performance.

“The youngsters in all the games we played so far, I think there is a sign that there is some real development going on in all the parishes or clubs. Today in particular the game at Kensington was a very good game.”

In addition to the bursaries for all the team members, Manchester will receive a 20-foot container. Barnes was very happy for it saying that it would be best to install it at Manchester High School where the academy for cricket is stationed.

Donald Bredwood, coach of runner-up Kensington, was happy for his team’s placement in the competition, going all the way to the final as a first-time entrant. “I think my boys did exceptionally well for just in four weeks to gel together and to play as excellently as they did coming up to the final,”he said, while crediting the atmosphere at Kensington for his team’s performance.

Grantley Stephenson, CEO of title sponsor Kingston Wharves, expressed pleasure at the quality of the competition this year. He said “from all reports that I have received that the quality, the calibre of players is among the best and we are extremely pleased with that. And this is the kind of thing that encourages us to remain in this and to continue going forward”.

Several cricketers were rewarded for their performances during the competition, at the awards function which followed the final. Sanjay Walker (5-26 and 45 not out) was adjudged the man of the match; the four century-makers were Oneil Roberts and Aaron Morris of Manchester, while the other two were Demario Butler and Oujuann James of new team Boys’ Town. Most runs went to Demario Butler with 232, most wickets went to Alex Hinds of Kensington with 17; most valuable players were Alex Hinds and Aaron Morris.

All the special awardees received vouchers towards their school expenses.

The sponsors in 2017 were Kingston Wharves and NCB Foundation, which returned for the second year.