Bridgeport, Packers to contest JEP cricket final
The curtain is to come down on the 2022 Jamaica Energy Partners (JEP) St Catherine Twenty20 (T20) cricket competition when Bridgeport Super Sixers and fellow first-time finalists Packers All Stars meet at Port Esquivel Sports Club on Sunday.
The championship match is scheduled to start 1:30 pm, while in the third-place play-off Innswood Old Boys are set to battle Phoenix Park Royals at 9:30 am.
In last week’s semi-finals at Bridgeport Sports Club, the Super Sixers defeated five-time champions Innswood Old Boys, while Packers All Stars beat first-time entrants Phoenix Park Royals.
Bridgeport Super Sixers will rely on Jamaica youth player Brandon English, Junior Morrison, Rushane Gordon, Lloyd Gould, and Captain Dwayne Guthrie to score the bulk of their runs.
Their bowling is expected to be led by Kern Duckett, Guthrie, English, and Germaine Gordon.
For Portmore-based Packers All Stars, whose only loss this season came at the hands of the Super Sixers, the batting burden will mostly rest on the shoulders of national youth player Justin Walters, Albert Rose, Loren Thomas Jr, Jermaine Christie, and Captain Jameel Bryan. Fitzroy Hunter, Albert Rose, Christie, and Captain Jameel Bryan are likely to do most damage with the ball.
JEP Group President Wayne McKenzie welcomed the return of the competition after a forced two-year break due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“This final marks Jamaica Energy Partners’ 21st anniversary with the St Catherine Cricket Association in producing stellar cricketers, not for just the parish, but also for the country and the region,” he said.
“On Sunday we are expecting to see young, bright cricketers emerging from this competition to represent their parish, country, and region. This is what JEP is about — inculcating the growth of our local talents either through education, sports, or other skills. Only through corporate philanthropy can we create a better environment for our communities and residents within our communities,” McKenzie said.