By Ainsley Walters, Staff Reporter
Kingston's Nehemiah Perry looks back at his uprooted middle stump during yesterday's Capital and Credit Limited Overs All-Island final at Sabina Park yesterday. Perry was bowled for nine runs by St. Catherine's Dean Morgan. St. Catherine won by five wickets. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
TAMAR LAMBERT yesterday cut short Ricardo Powell's swash-buckling innings and later returned to topscore with 62 unbeaten runs, handing St. Catherine Cricket Club the Capital and Credit Limited Overs All-Island cricket title by five wickets.
Replying to Kingston's 133, which was boosted by Powell's 64 off 41 balls, Man-of-the-Match Lambert led the The Saints to 134 with 10 overs to spare on a lively Sabina Park pitch.
Lambert's stubborn and afterwards entertaining knock rescued shaky St. Catherine, which had lost their first three wickets for 30 runs to pacer Dwight Mais.
Joining the fray after Danza Hyatt departed for two runs, Lambert tried to pick up the chase with middle-order batsmen David Lemmie (six) and Courtney Francis (two) but didn't find a willing partner until joined by Andre Rowe with the score at 49 for five.
Lambert and Rowe (28) shared a 69-run partnership which moved St. Catherine to 118 before Rowe, attempting a lofty drive off Kerry Scott, was caught by Audley Sanson running in from long-off.
Raymore Smith (three not out) joined Lambert with The Saints needing 15 runs for victory and the pair comfortably guided their side past the mark.
Former Jamaica Under-19 captain Lambert was also St. Catherine's hero with the ball, snapping up three wickets for 18 runs off 7.4 overs, claiming the crucial scalp of hard-hitting Powell, who was taking apart The Saints' bowling.
Powell's 64 was the showpiece of a 77-run third-wicket stand with Matthew Sinclair. However, after his partner went for seven the Kingston star attempted one elaborate stroke too many, going down the wicket to Lambert and was stumped by wicketkeeper David Morgan.
The loss of Sinclair and Powell with 86 runs on the board sent Kingston into a tailspin as Raymond Ferguson and captain Lloyd Black were dismissed without scoring.
St. Catherine's captain, Renford Pinnock Jr., praised Lambert's all-round performance.
"We were under pressure but Lambert stuck to the task, playing an anchor innings," he said. "He brought his team home and has been doing that all season. This is his fourth Man-of-the-Match performance."
Powell's whirlwind 48-minute knock and Kingston's hostile opening spell had Saints' captain worried.
"Thanks to Ricardo Powell, he was going so well and, out of nothing, just gave away his wicket," Pinnock said. "After his wicket fell we went in for the kill.
"Their pacers did well," he added, reflecting on fiery bowling from Mais, Sanson and Richardson. "They really put us on the back foot. Chasing 133, one thought we would have cruised but Kingston made it competitive."
