Queens Masters were crowned the new champions of the Michael Holding Masters Cricket Competition after defeating Melbourne Masters by four wickets at the Ultimate Cricket Oval in St Ann on Sunday.

Queens defeated the former two-time defending champions New York in their semi-final match on the way to the final.

Queens won the toss and sent in Melbourne to bat. They then made 159-9 in 27 overs. The match started late due to overnight rains leaving a wet out field. The match was interrupted after three overs with Melbourne on 32 runs and ace batsman Delroy Morgan back in the pavilion with just one run to his name.

The overs were them reduced to 27. Former national representative Dennis Gordon top scored with 36, while John Gordon gave good support with 24 and captain Derron Dixon contributed nine runs. The bulk of the wickets went to Queens’ Shadi Khan (3-23) from five overs, and Dwight Meikle (2-41) from five overs.

Queens started briskly but faltered in the middle overs, giving Melbourne some hope, before roaring back in the end with another former national representative Dixieth Palmer scoring the most runs of 63.

Former Barbados representative Ahmed Proverbs was next with 43 runs. The wickets went to Kenny Issacs (3-29) from six overs and John Gordon (2-30) from six overs.

The match went down to the last over with Queens making 161-6 in 26.5 overs, and just one delivery to spare. Their jubilant supporters charged onto the field in glee at the end.

Ahmed Proverbs walked away with the MVP of the competition. He made the most runs of 291, including one century of 130.

The top wicket taker, Donald Powell of Florida Masters recorded (9-77) from 17 overs.

Scholarships were awarded to four youngsters who competed in the Jamaica National Under-13 Cricket Competition and took part in the clinics during the competition.

They are Hermon Rose of Discovery Bay All Age, Renaldo Ingram of Holmwood Technical, Aleem Newby of Walker’s Wood All Age and Jessimar Billings of St Elizabeth Technical.