Daraine Luton, Freelance Writer
KENSINGTON ARE no longer a part of the 'big boys club' of local cricket - at least for one year. They were on the weekend relegated from the island's premier cricket league, the Supreme Ventures Super Cup, after finishing ninth in the 10-team championship.
Winners of the Cup last year Kensington, who missed nearly half their top players this season as some are on contract in England and others represented the West Indies team, finished on 11 points after failing to record even one outright win in nine games. They only performed better than one team this season, St. Catherine Parish (7), the other relegated team.
RELIMINARY ROUND
Both suffered embarrassing defeats as the preliminary round ended yesterday.
Manchester was the team to inflict the final wound on Kensington, doing so with a comprehensive 10-wicket win at Kirkvine.
The home team batted first and posted 282 for eight declared, to which Kensington replied with 143. Only Samuel Douglas (73) prospered against Donovan Sinclair (4-12) and Stephan Patterson (2-18). Instructed to follow-on, Kensington made 153 (Darren Powell 63) leaving Manchester with 15 runs to get which they did without any loss.
The win puts Manchester atop the standings with 34 points, which means they will play fourth place Kingston (32) in next weekend's semi-final.
The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) with 33 points will play Melbourne in the other semi-final.
St. Catherine Parish also went down by 10 wickets, to Lucas at Port Esquivel.
St. Catherine Parish batted first and posted 170 but Wayne Gayle (78) and Kevin Hinds (33) led Lucas to 222 all-out, a 52-run lead.
Omar Burke (4-25) and Delroy Morgan (3-17) then combined to skittle the St. Catherine team out for 80 in their second innings, leaving Lucas with 29 to win. Openers Kevin Hinds (23) and Chadwich Walton (9) got the runs without any hiccups.
Meanwhile, the JDF picked up first innings points over Kingston in the clash of the semi-finalists at Up Park Camp.
The soldiers, who went to bed at 54 for one on Saturday night, got up to 226 all-out yesterday with Berseton Reid (61), Howard Copeland (38) and Omar Ellington (38) leading the way against Duken Whyte (4-73) and Andrew Richards (3-35).
Facing a deficit of 58, Kingston reached 98-3 when the captains decided to call off the encounter.
FULL POINTS
The game which pitted the other semi-finalist, Melbourne, against St. Elizabeth at Melbourne Oval, saw the Derrymore Road side taking full points from 'St. Bess'.
After 25 wickets fell on the first day an early end was expected yesterday. Chasing 117 for victory after St. Elizabeth made a second innings score of 110, four more than they did in their first innings, Melboure got up to 120 for the loss of two wickets in recording the eight-wicket win.
At Gray's Inn, St. Catherine Cricket Club took first innings points from St. Mary in their drawn encounter. St. Catherine batted first and scored 200. They then dismissed St. Mary for 99, and sent them to bat again. However, the Saints' bowlers were not so lucky this time around as Maurice Clarke hit an unbeaten 100 in St. Mary's 213 for five.
