WI T20 captain Powell fails to help Old Harbour win
West Indies captain Rovman Powell made a rare appearance for Old Harbour, but his presence failed to prevent them from going down by 28 runs to Bushy Park/Church Pen in the Social Development Commission (SDC) Cal’s sponsored National Community Twenty20 (T20) competition at Chedwin Park on Sunday.
Powell was instrumental with the ball, bagging three wickets for 22 runs with his medium pacers in restricting Bushy Park/Church Pen to 164 for eight in their allotted 20 overs. Kevon Lettman top-scored with 62, while former national wicketkeeper/batsman Keith Hibbert made 38.
Powell returned with the bat to top score with 39, however, national spinner Jevor Royal bagged three wickets for 13 runs to restrict Old Harbour to 136 for eight in 20 overs to hand Bushy Park/Church Pen their second straight victory.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Greater Portmore easily brushed aside EwartonSlazenger by 127 runs.
Former national youth player Ramon Senior hit 111, while Raewin Senior made 51 for Greater Portmore, who piled up 216 for four in their 20 overs, against two wickets each for Dwayne Boines and Peter Pottinger.
Nicholas Lewin, Adario Walcott and Milton Luckain took two wickets each to restrict Ewarton to just 89 for eight.
Over in Manchester, hosts French Park CC made light work of their contest against Providence Uprising.
French Park piled up a whopping 243 for four from 20 overs, with Odayne Thomas scoring 112 and Raydon Dixon getting 75. Daniel McClymont grabbed five wickets for 13 runs in blowing away Providence Uprising for 85 in just 15 overs.
In the earlier game, which was reduced to 12 overs per side, Fairfield United saw off Marcus Garvey YC by 59 runs.
Fairfield batted first and made 155 for three, with Brian Clarke getting 76. National spinner Jamie Merchant then took three wickets for 13 runs from three overs to restrict Marcus Garvey to 96 for nine in 12 overs.
Arnett Gardens and Mount Pleasant should last night’s action be an indication can expect an intense conclusion to their semi-final series after finishing 2-2 in their Jamaica Premier League (JPL) first leg at Sabina Park.
Leonardo Rankin opened the scoring for Mount Pleasant in the 18th minute before Shai Smith equalised with a header in the 30th minute. Trivante Stewart restored Mount Pleasant’s advantage in the 63rd minute, a lead that lasted only three minutes as Arnett’s captain Fabian Reid scored from close range to restore parity.
The battle was an end-to-end affair with both teams showing their attacking strengths that entertained the crowd, which mostly favoured the ‘Junglists’.
Arnett Gardens, the regular season champions, have been idle for three weeks after automatic qualification to the semis. While their attack looked pedestrian in the early goings, it roared into life after they conceded.
Head coach Paul Davis said that the three-week break was used wisely, as they were still in training but felt last night they could have put themselves in a better situation had their final third execution been better.
“When you reach this stage, you take the chances with two good teams playing. It was a tug-of-war game. We were getting chances, they were getting chances, but had we taken all of our chances, it might have been a different game,” Davis said.
Davis had expected an intense game given the quality that Mount Pleasant possessed but was pleased with the fighting spirit shown by his players.
“Mount Pleasant have a lot of experienced players, so you are going to see that, but one of the greatest things is that my team is playing from the heart. They want the cup this year, and we are going to go all out,” Davis said.
Mount Pleasant head coach Theodore Whitmore said the momentum Arnett gained after equalising put them in a difficult position, which they wanted to avoid.
“This is a team (Arnett) who have been at this stage before, so the support of the fans would have been key. We wanted to take the fans out of the game because once you are behind and the fans are behind Arnett, it is always going to be difficult,” Whitmore said.
Whitmore was coy when asked about potential changes in strategy for Sunday’s return leg but expects the match to be as fiercely contested as last night.
“It should be interesting. It should be entertaining as you saw,” Whitmore said.
Meanwhile, Cavalier edged reigning champions Harbour View 1-0 in their first-leg semi-final played earlier, thanks to an Orlando Russell strike in the 49th minute.