A SHORT burst of afternoon showers spoilt the party for St. Catherine and Melbourne, but saved the day for Kingston and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) as the curtains came down on seventh round of games in the Supreme Ventures Super League.
Manchester now lead the points table with 19, two more than the JDF, Kingston and Melbourne, 17 apiece. St. Elizabeth (15), St. Mary (13), Lucas (12), St. Catherine CC (11), Kensington (9) and St. Catherine Parish (6) are the chasers.
With the soldiers up against the ropes against St. Catherine in their Up Park Camp encounter, the elements intervened and brought an abrupt stop to St. Catherine's run chase at 51 for two. St. Catherine were chasing a victory target of 99 after they managed to skittle the soldiers out for a paltry second innings total of 108 out of which Anthony Folkes scored 36 and Kamal Dennis 29.
Earlier, St. Catherine resuming at 115 for six got up to 164, a lead of nine runs, with Sean Beckford (37), Kevin Kelly (20 not out) and Lascelles Davis (17) making most runs against Wayne Cuff (4 for 44), Dennis (2 for 13) and Warren Medwinter (2 for 35).
Davis claimed five JDF wickets for 42 runs in their second innings for a match haul of nine for 64.
At Sabina Park: Kingston, needing to score 109 for Melbourne to bat again were 41-4 when the rains came, 21.5 overs into their second innings.
Batting first Kingston scored 114 on a wet pitch to which Melbourne replied with 171 plus 52 penalty runs (223). Llewelyn Meggs topscored with 45, while Audley Sanson took 4-66. Marlon Samuels contributed only two runs but held the reigns on the Kingston side with three wickets for 32 in his side victory pursuit.
At Kirkvine: Bad light brought a premature end to the game between Manchester and St. Mary but not before the homesters bagged first innings points. After going to bed at 144 for 4, Manchester, through the efforts of Corey Phillips (61) and David Powell (48) piled up 219 for eight declared. Toussaint Hassan 3 for 65 and Ian McLeod 2 for 84 were the best bowlers for St. Mary, who scored 112 in their knock at the crease.
In their second knock Manchester got up to 70-4 when the umpires offered Maurice Clarke (16 not out) and David Stewart (1 not out) the light.
D. L.
