Anthony Foster, Freelance WriterTHE battle for the Supreme Ventures/Super Cup $500,000 jackpot continues today with Kensington in a slightly advantageous position over St. Catherine at Sabina Park, starting at 10:00 a.m.
At the end of yesterday's opening day the scoreboard read: St. Catherine 242; Kensington 55 without loss.
Sent to bat, St. Catherine failed to make use of what turned out to be a good batting pitch and if it wasn't for former Jamaica batsman Tony Powell and the lower order, which put together 147, the St. Catherine team would have fared much worse.
Captain Renford Pinnock Jnr. and Dean Morgan started the innings for St. Catherine but with just seven runs on the board, the former was bowled by Damion Morgan for three.
However, for a while things swung back in St. Catherine's favour until captain Wavell Hinds made a bowling change which bore fruit for Kensington as medium pacer Marcus Stewart, who got the ball to move around with reasonable pace, surprised Danza Hyatt, 17, with one that kept low and trapped the batsman Leg Before Wicket at 41 for three.
DOUBLE CENTURY
Tamar Lambert, who scored a double century earlier in the competition, came in to join Dean Morgan but after taking the score to 72, Lambert edged Hinds to Peter Colquhoun who took the catch on his third attempt. Dean Morgan, 33, and Milton, four, who looked to be in a hurry from the time he came to the crease, were the other victims before lunch.
With more than half the team in the pavilion and less than a hundred runs on the board, any hope of a decent St. Catherine total rested squarely on the shoulders of Powell, and Wayne Morgan who got an unbeaten 92 in the semi-final against the Jamaica Defence Force.
Both batsmen batted with maturity and in a partnership worth 95 for the sixth wicket, Powell mixed aggression with patience, hitting 10 fours on his way to a top score of 79.
Morgan scored 35 but in what has become customary in cricket, both fell within five runs of each other to Hinds, who bowled superb to claim four wickets for 71 runs.
After their departure, the 'tail' hang around for awhile as the 'Saints' pushed their score past the 200 mark.
PATIENT START
In their reply, Kensington got off to a patient start, but it wasn't long before Hinds took Bevon Brown to task, hitting the off-spinner for two fours and a six in one over. Ranville Brown, 12 not out, at the other end was more reserve and along with Hinds, 43 not out, both are expected to continue Kensington's fight today.
St. Catherine's captain Renford Pinnock Jnr. said they had hoped to score more runs.
"It (241) wasn't the total we were looking for, but we have some work to do come tomorrow (today)," said Pinnock, while blaming a lack of real effort for his team's small total.
However, he credited Powell for a fine knock.
Kensington's captain Hinds said his team stuck to the task, although "I think they got away in the latter part of the innings", before adding that "today we are looking to get over 400".
