Richard Bryan, Freelance ReporterManchester High became the first finalist of the Grace/ISSA Headley Cup after a convincing performance over Dinthill in Mandeville on Thursday.
The other finalist is yet to be determined as defending champions St Elizabeth Technical are still involved in semi-final group action while another hopeful, Holmwood Technical, awaits that outcome.
Manchester's place was due mainly to the performance of their natioal junior player, Jamie Merchant. On the first day of a rain-affected match, Merchant, in his role as an offspinner, had impressive figures of five for 10 off seven overs as the Dinthill batting line-up featuring Nkrumah Bonner and Shacoya Thomas, folded for a mere 55 runs in 24.5 overs. Bonner and Thomas, who both represented the West Indies in the last junior World Cup, both went for ducks off Merchant.
powerful hit
When Manchester batted, Mer-chant, who scored a century in the preliminary round, struck a powerful 109 after coming to the crease with his team in some danger at 59 for four. His knock included 18 fours and a six and carried Manchester to 215, for an imposing 160-run lead and more importantly, the crucial first innings honours that were needed to secure a final berth.
The game also featured controversial moments with the Dinthill coach, Nkrumah Morgan, accusing the Manchester camp of altering the pitch conditions to ensure there was a late start to the second and final day's play. Morgan confirmed he would be lodging a protest to ISSA.
The game also ended with some confusion regarding to the final result as Dinthill players decided to call it quits after reaching 155 for eight wickets, still five runs short of the Manchester first innings total.
