Carl Spence, Gleaner Writer

Judy Benjamin, sales manager at Jamaica National Building Society, presents the Collie Smith Shield to New Forrest after they won the All-Age final against Discovery Bay at Melbourne Oval, on Tuesday. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

A 91-RUN, fourth wicket, unbeaten partnership between Juvel Lawrence and Kaycee Broomfield gave New Forrest Primary and Junior High their third hold on the JNBS All-Age School's cricket title after they defeated Discovery Bay All Age by seven wickets in the competition's final on Tuesday at Melbourne.

Meanwhile, Ballard's Valley Primary captured the Primary School's shield after downing Tarrant Primary by 33 runs at the same venue.

Batting first in a game of 30 overs per team, Discovery Bay scored 140 runs whilst losing seven wickets. Captain Kemar Carson (41) gave Discovery Bay the perfect start to their innings, sharing in a 69-run opening partnership with Rohan McKenzie (25) before the team lost seven wickets for just 71 runs.

Roger Sinclair was the pick of the bowlers for New Forrest, grabbing three wickets for 15 runs off five overs.

Unbeaten knocks

Given a target requiring just under five runs per over to claim the Collie Smith Shield, New Forrest surpassed the total in 22.2 overs. Despite losing three wickets fairly early in the run-chase, the Manchester-based school never seemed in trouble with Lawrence at the crease.

With New Forrest's third wicket falling for 53 runs in the tenth over, Broomfield joined Lawrence and the pair ensured there were no further wickets lost before the target was reached. They top scored with unbeaten knocks of 68 and 45 respectively, frustrating the St. Ann-based fielding team with sharp singles and occasional boundaries to arrive at their target. New Forrest last won the title back in 1999 when Donovan Sinclair was captain and, before then, in 1994 with a team led by Matthew Sinclair.

"I'm very happy today, this is a very important victory for our youngsters because we have worked very hard throughout the year for this victory," a delighted Andrew Bent said of his New Forrest team.

Discovery Bay's coach, Omar Campbell, blamed poor fielding for his team's loss.

"Well, catches win matches and we lost the game when the opening batsman for the opponents was dropped and he went on to make a half century," Campbell said.

In the first of the two finals, Ballard's Valley took the Courtney Walsh Shield back to St. Elizabeth thanks to an all-round performance by team captain Mark Parchment.

Parchment scored an unbeaten 43 in his team's 113-run total for six wickets and was assisted by Kimar Ranton (19). Parchment then returned with the ball to grab three of Tarrant's 10 wickets as the Kingston-based school was bundled out for 80 runs.