NHT land Triple A Sports Business House Management T20 title
NATIONAL Housing Trust (NHT) defeated Jamaica National Group by 52 runs to capture the inaugural staging of the 2018 Triple A Sports and Technology Limited-sponsored Business House Management T20 cricket title at the National Water Commission (NWC) playing field at Mona on Sunday.
NHT made 178 all out in 19.4 overs with Jamaica National replying with 126 all out off 17.3 overs. The match had to be replayed due to a saturated pitch the previous Sunday.
Jamar Semester of NHT was named man-of-the match for his four wickets for 27 off his four overs, while Kirk Harris from NHT won the MVP award for his outstanding performances during the competition.
Domain Wilson of NWC with a total of 166 runs won the award for scoring the most runs, while the most wickets award went to Patrick Hartly of Jamaica National Group with a total of eight wickets.
“We have beaten our opponents in the preliminary round in the last over and it was also a challenging final. They got a very good start when they began their reply by scoring 51 for one after four overs. However, with our strong bowling attack we were able to get the batsmen out cheaply to win,” said NHT’s Captain Quennue McKinson.
McKinson noted that Jamaica National played much better in the rained-out final the previous week, and that they were looking for another good performance from them.
NHT won the toss and elected to take first strike with openers Kirk Harris and Patrick Dixon racing to 50 runs without loss after only four overs. They lost their first wicket with the score on 53, and the second at 58.
Despite losing quick wickets, NHT went at a good run rate with 100 runs coming off 12 overs before losing three more wickets to slump to 103 for five wickets.
The last five NHT batsmen were able to add a further 75 runs. The principal scorers for NHT were Harris with 30, including five fours and a six, Patrick Dixon with 30 — two fours and two sixes, and Delbert Gayle with 28 — three fours and a six.
Wicket-takers for Jamaica National were Hartley with three for 25 off his four overs, and former Jamaica opening batsman Delroy Morgan with two for 30 off 3.4 overs.
Jamaica National began their reply in a very attacking mood as they quickly raced to 50 in the fourth over between openers Shaquille Greenwood and Kemar Brown.
However, the opening partnership was broken three runs later with two quick wickets with the score on 53. The fourth wicket fell at 69 before the water break after 10 overs with Jamaica National struggling at 78 for five wickets.
The losers never recovered.
Opener Brown who batted for a long time could only make 15 with one four and a six, while Morgan contributed only 13. The experienced former Jamaica representative was caught in the deep going for a big hit.
From then onwards the Jamaica National batting fell apart with wickets falling at 82, 86, 87 and 97 before they reached the 100 off 15 overs with seven wickets down.
The bowlers who broke the heart of Jamaica National Group’s batting, especially the middle order, were Semester, who captured four wickets for 27 runs off his four overs; Frederick Hermit, with two for 24 off three overs; and McKinson, with two for 30 off four overs.
Greenwood was the top scorer for Jamaica National with 36 runs, including four fours and two sixes, while Jermaine Johnson got 30 with two fours and one six.
