Tony Becca
THE SUPREME Ventures Super Cup cricket competition ended at Kensington Park on Sunday and congratulations to Manchester for lifting the Michael Holding Trophy and pocketing the $500,000 first prize.
Going into the match after topping the preliminary round with a record of three victories, five first innings leads, and one no-result due to rain, and after dismissing fourth-placed Kingston Cricket Club (CC) in the semi-finals, Manchester, in a wonderful come-from-behind performance, nailed the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) in the final.
SET FOR DEFEAT
Favourites after their impressive performance in the preliminary round - a performance during which they routed the JDF for 76 at Up Park Camp, scored 260, and had the soldiers on the run at 148 for nine, Manchester appeared set to suffer the fate of Clarendon, who lost to Melbourne in 1990, and St. Catherine Parish, who lost to Kingston CC a few years later.
After losing the toss, sent to bat, falling for 175 and trailing by 50 runs at the end of the first innings, however, the rural ambassadors ran out winners by 43 runs to become the first rural team to win the all-island title - to crash the party reserved for the clubs of the Corporate Area up to 1989.
"We are not here just to compete - just to show we can compete," said captain Matthew Sinclair during the preliminary round. "We are here to win," said the former Jamaica wicketkeeper out of St. Elizabeth, and thanks to some good teamwork, to consistent performances from the likes of Donovan Sinclair, Gary Graham, Ziggy Levy and Cory Phillips, some timely individual performances from the likes of Matthew Sinclair and former Jamaica rep Orville Pennant, and to what appears a good support staff, they not only won but they also won in style.
In their celebration, however, Manchester should raise a special toast to Andre Dwyer - the gifted 22-year-old back-of-the-hand left-arm spin bowler who bowled them into the final with 44 wickets and then bowled them to victory with 14 wickets in the final.
In the first innings, Dwyer claimed the first seven wickets and finished with nine; and in the second innings, after the pacers, aided by a brilliant run-out from the third-man boundary and a magnificent catch diving forward at short extra-cover by Matthew Sinclair, had handed him a great start by sending the JDF reeling at 20 for three in search of a victory target of 168, he once again mesmerised the batsmen of JDF and bowled his team to victory.
Dwyer, like Dave Bulli of Kensington, is something special. He is, however, more difficult to pick, he seems to know just where to pitch the ball depending on what he intends to do with it, he spins the ball appreciably, he is therefore more difficult to play, and hopefully the selectors will look his way when next they meet to select the Jamaica team for the regional four-day tournament.
PROUD SCHOOL
Manchester, all of Manchester and including the hard-working, ever present Novelyn Ricketts, must be and should be proud of their ambassadors - as would Rex Fennell were he alive.
Fennell, the late former president of the then Jamaica Cricket Board of Control, was one of a handful of people who, back in 1987, 1988 and 1989, back in the days when many in the city and on the Board believed that the rural teams were too weak to play against the clubs, fought for the parishes and the clubs to play in one islandwide competition.
In becoming the champions of Jamaica, Manchester, who shared the points in a rain-ruined match against Melbourne, trailed only once on first innings - and in that match, in the final, they hit back in style and won handsomely.
