Title holders Excelsior High made a bright start to their defence of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) urban Under-19 Grace Shield cricket competition with a comprehensive 179-run win against St Jago High at Courtney Walsh Oval on Friday, March 11.

Other winners were Kingston College (KC), Campion College, Wolmer’s Boys’, and St George’s College.

At Excelsior’s Mountain View Avenue base, the champions batting first, rattling up 225-7 off 39 overs, with half-centuries from Norris Tenn (54 not out) and Captain Michael Clarke (52), while Calvel Reid made 44. St Jago’s Gavin Forest took 5-52.

In reply, St Jago were bowled out for a paltry 46 runs off 22 overs. Brandon English and Demarcos Scott claimed 3-5 and 3-6, respectively, while Reid and Cavan Miller supported with two wickets each.

Excelsior Coach Kirkland Bailey said he was particularly pleased with the victory because players had only begun training since January of this year. He said he has retained only five of his players from the team that won the competition in 2019. Because of the novel coronavirus pandemic no competition was played in 2020 or last year.

At Kingston College’s North Street base, the hosts defeated Jonathan Grant High by six wickets.

Jonathan Grant batted first and were bowled out for 93 runs with Mario Kerr scoring 39. Fabian Bryan was the top bowler, taking 6-13.

KC replied with 96-3 off 17 overs, with Jahmall Taylor and Courtney Hanchard scoring unbeaten knocks of 27 and 14, respectively. Evando Bennett took 2-17.

At Wilbert Parkes Oval, the hosts Campion College beat Jamaica College (JC) by four wickets.

JC batted first and made 112 for nine wickets with Cole Thompson top scoring with 52 against Roshane Rose who captured 6-20.

Campion replied with 113 for six wickets with Rose scoring an unbeaten 45.

Wolmer’s Boys’ crushed visitors Ardenne High by 10 wickets at the former school’s Heroes’ Circle home venue.

Ardenne, who competed with only nine players, batted first and were bowled out for 17. Nicoly McKenzie grabbed four wickets, while Simon Brown took two, Wolmer’s cruised to victory at 18 without loss.

At Emmett Park, hosts St George’s College were awarded points against St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) who turned up to the match with only five players in possession of the required IDs.

A total of 11 schools are participating in the competition and will play each other once with each of the top two teams from Zones A and B set to advance to the semi-finals. The semi-finals will be played over one day with one innings for each team. A second day is reserved for an outright win result.

The final, which will be played over three days, will involve two innings for each team.

Zone A – Excelsior High, Wolmer’s Boys’, Jamaica College, Campion College, St Jago High and Ardenne High.

Zone B – St George’s College, Kingston College, Calabar High, St Andrew Technical