A final to remember
UWI’s amazing Senior Cup success
THE GHOST of Sir Frank Worrell must be smiling right now just as how Professor Sir Hilary Beckles must be a happy man following the maiden victory of the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, in the Senior Cup cricket final at Sabina Park last weekend.
Worrell, a former Warden of Irvine Hall, and Beckles, the present pro vice-chancellor, one a former captain of the team, and the other a crusader for cricket at the university, was, and is, instrumental in keeping the fires of cricket burning in the hallowed halls.
It was Worrell’s, and it is Beckles’, firm belief that the university, founded in 1948 as a place of higher learning, could have played, and can also play, a part in the process of nationbuilding in the form of sports and especially in cricket.
And others like the late professor Gladstone Mills of Jamaica, and cricketers Ainsworth Harewood and Tim Goopalsingh of Trinidad and Tobago, Teddy Griffith, and the late Michael ‘Spotty’ Clarke of Barbados, Alva Anderson and the late E.V. Ellington and Franz Botek of Jamaica, must be secretly smiling wherever they are today.
Last weekend, after a participation that goes back to the very beginning of the university, except for a few years, they came to Sabina Park to contest their first Senior Cup final, and after falling behind after two days of intense struggle, they overpowered the muchvaunted, star-studded, favoured, and many-times champions, Melbourne, to take home the title.
The match was a draw, but they snatched the Cup in spectacular, dramatic, and exciting fashion after pulling off a thrilling lead on first innings by a narrow and pulsating margin of a mere four runs.
It was a simple case of they came, they saw, they conquered, and they also celebrated.
PERFECT PITCH
After losing the toss, sent to bat on a perfect pitch and in bright sunshine, and losing three wickets for 20 runs, including that of Jamaica batsman Chadwick Walton, they battled back, got to 74 before losing Jamaica batsman Rovman Powell, and were 85 for five and in deep trouble against the feared Melbourne attack of four national bowlers – Oshane Thomas, Nikita Miller, Damion Jacobs, and Christopher Lamont.
Captain Paul Palmer, a Jamaica batsman, and Sadique Henry stepped into the breach with two innings of 78 and 60, however, and with help from Romaine Morris and West Indies youth representative Michael Frew took the university to 299.
Melbourne then got off to a brilliant start of 118 without loss, with Jamaica reps Stephen Taylor hitting 57 and Trevorn Griffith, 60, and although they lost, Jamaica rep Asad Fuddadin and the young, promising, and exciting batsman Javel Glen for little or nothing, Melbourne, at 238 for four, were apparently sitting pretty, especially with Jamaica batsman Andre McCarthy in the pink of form.
Out of the blue, however, McCarthy top-edged a sweep and was caught on the backward square-leg boundary for a superb 82. Jamaica batsman John Ross Campbell followed immediately, and it was 241 for six.
Suddenly, the hunter became the hunted as Palmer circled the batsmen, and after a defiant 42run partnership between Jamaica wicketkeeper batsman Aldaine Thomas and Jacobs, it was all over.
Thomas was leg-before wicket, and Jacobs stepped on his wicket while attempting to force the ball into the onside off the backfoot as Melbourne’s last four wickets fell for 12 runs to signal a memorable finish.
It was a lovely final. Thomas bowled well; Palmer and Henry batted beautifully; the UWI tail showed some fight; Taylor, Griffith, and especially McCarthy, batted splendidly; and Akim Frazer, the off-spinner who bowled unchanged from one end all day Sunday while bowling 30.4 overs and taking eight wickets for 84 runs, bowled exceptionally well.
EIGHT VICTIMS
His eight victims, in order, were Taylor, Fuddadin, Griffith, McCarthy, Campbell, and Aldaine Thomas – all national batsmen and centurions – Jacobs, a Senior Cup double-centurion seasons long ago, and Miller, the sometimes difficult Jamaica tailender.
As a Melbourne member, obviously, I was disappointed in the result, especially as Melbourne seemed to boast the better team.
As a sportsman, however, and as a cricket person, I enjoyed the final. It was what was expected in a final, or should be expected, especially in a national cricket final. The bowling was good, the batting was brilliant, especially the strokeplay, and the fielding of UWI was fantastic.
One attempt at a catch, a flying, left-handed attempt by Powell that fell out of his hand when he hit the ground on the mid-wicket boundary off McCarthy, was brilliant; and the direct hit, the run-out of Glen by Nicholas Walters sprinting in from square-leg, was like a bullet from a gun.
These were in direct contrast to two dropped catches by Melbourne, one at backward square-leg and one at long-on, when UWI were in serious trouble.
Was it wrong for Melbourne to give away the toss, and did Oshane Thomas bowl enough?
Whatever are the answers, to come from behind after losing three wickets, including that of star batsman Walton, for 20 runs, after being 88 for five, including that of batsman Powell, and after Melbourne had hopped to 118 without loss, 238 for four, and 283 for six and looked all over the winners, to win the match was simply amazing.
RICHLY DESERVED
Congrats to The Pelicans. The victory was richly deserved.
The Senior Cup final of 2018 was a final to remember. It was, apart from the many one-sided matches caused by the presence of weak teams, which led to teams being dismissed for embarrassingly low totals and matches finishing in one day, just what is expected in club cricket, especially in a final: the sentiments were high; the teams involved good players and, as such, were good teams; the competition was top class and exciting; and the quality was good.
Should the final have been played over three days, like that of schoolboy cricket?
Although I do not know if the final of a competition should be longer than it is during the competition, and despite what happened in the second innings last weekend, it would no doubt make the competition more meaningful, and exciting, as it did previously when the final was played over three day, as happened some years ago when Kingston lost first innings easily to St Catherine Parish and then recovered to win the match comfortably.