Daraine Luton, Freelance WriterDEFENDING champions St. Catherine Cricket Club look certain to bow out of the Capital and Credit limited overs cricket competition this weekend.
With the competition in its fifth and final round, its very unlikely that the 'Saints', who beat the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) in the final for the title last year, will get into the quarter-finals.
Today, they are up against two-day champions and group C leaders Manchester at Kirkvine.
AVAILABLE SPOTS
Manchester have already qualified for the Super Eight, but with only two available spots in each group, St. Catherine who are joint second with St. Thomas will have to pull off an unlikely win and hope St. Thomas lose to Portland at Goodyear Oval to advance.
The situation St. Catherine find themselves in results from their lone defeat this season at the expense of St. Thomas in the second round.
This was despite a knock of 46 from Dean Morgan, who was fresh off ,century (106) made against Portland in the first game.
Morgan has failed to get off the mark in his next two innings and if St. Catherine are going to upset Manchester, he along with Odean Brown, Renford Pinnock Jnr. and Maurice Pinnock must lead from the front.
This, however, won't be an easy task against a team that is booming with confidence, especially since three of their players in back-of-the-hand left arm spinner Andre Dwyer, spinning pal Donovan Sinclair and batsman Gary Graham have been included in the national training squad.
PORTLAND'S LOSSES
Manchester have been the only team to beat St. Thomas so far and on current form only a brave betting man would wager his money on Portland beating them. Portland have lost three of their four games. If both St. Thomas and St. Catherine end level on points, St. Thomas will advance by virtue of having beaten the 'Saints'.
While St. Catherine look danger in the eyes, several of the island's top teams have their sight fixed on qualifying for the Super Eight.
At present, Melbourne lead group D with maximum 12 points from three games and are safely on the other side. St. Mary and St. Ann. with eight points each and St. James, with four points from three games are all in with a chance of grabbing second spot.
TODAY'S GAMES
Trelawny vs Westmoreland at Bounty Hall
Clarendon vs JDF at Jamalco
Kensington vs St. Catherine at Kensington Park
Lucas vs Hanover at Elgin Town
Boys' Town vs St. Elizabeth at Collie Smith Drive
Manchester vs St. Catherine C.C at Kirkvine
St. Thomas vs Portland at Goodyear
Kingston and St. Andrew vs St. James at Maxfield Park
St. Ann vs Melbourne at Kaiser
