Tony Becca - FROM THE BOUNDARYST. CATHERINE CC marched into the final of the Jamaica Cricket Association's Supreme Ventures Super Cup competition on Sunday after leading the Jamaica Defence Force on first innings at Sabina Park.
The question now is who will they meet in the final next weekend, will it be Melbourne or will it be Kensington?
In an unusual situation, the other semi-final match between Melbourne and Kensington at Melbourne Oval was abandoned after lunch on the first day due to a pitch that had become unfit for play and the JCA will decide this evening at its regular monthly meeting what will happen next.
According to the rules, in such a situation, the association shall decide whether the match can be replayed in the existing schedule, and with the final set for next weekend, it can be replayed in the existing schedule.
There is strong feeling, however, that the match should not be replayed that as the home team, Melbourne should be penalised for the embarrassment and the match awarded to Kensington.
As Kensington's captain Wavell Hinds said minutes after the incident, however, the pitch was not under-prepared maliciously.
NO MALICIOUS INTENT
The fact that Melbourne, having finished on top at the end of the preliminary round, would have moved on to the final in the event that there was no decision on first innings, won the toss, sent Kensington to bat and in doing so sentenced themselves to bat second, suggests that it was not done maliciously that they did not 'set' the pitch, that they did not expect the pitch to deteriorate more than normal.
The surface of the pitch looked good at the start, with Kensington 136 for two off 36 overs, the batsmen were going well up to lunch.
Although it had started to break up before the interval, it did not look as bad until the ground staff, as is the custom during an interval, had swept it in preparation for the resumption of play.
What happened was this: the pitch had broken up so badly at the southern end that pieces of it, at the bowlers follow through and in front of left-handed batsmen, came out during the sweeping process.
While Melbourne, as the home team, must be blamed for what happened, in deciding whether to replay the match or to award it to Kensington, however, the JCA should first decide whether it was malicious or not, and if it finds that it was a malicious act, then it should award the match.
REPLAY POSSIBLE
If, however, the JCA finds that the pitch did not deteriorate because of an attempt by Melbourne to prepare it in their favour, then in the interest of cricket, the match should be replayed especially as it can be replayed without any problems.
On top of that, the JCA should ask itself one other question, and it should remember something.
The St Catherine/JDF match was played, not as scheduled at Chedwin Park but at Sabina Park, and the JCA should ask itself this question: what it would do if the same thing had happened at Sabina Park?
Over the year's, Melbourne have developed a reputation of preparing good pitches and in its deliberation the JCA should remember that.
What happened at Melbourne Oval on Saturday was an embarrassment to the game and to the club and Melbourne should pay a price no doubt about that. They should be penalised.
The way to do that, however, may not be to award the match to Kensington and to hand them a place in the final.
In the interest of cricket, the semi-final match should be played, and maybe the way to penalise Melbourne is to fine the club and to play the match elsewhere probably at Kensington Park.
