Wolmer’s stun STETHS in ISSA T20 final
If ever there was a time for Wolmer’s Boys’ to stand firm on their motto ‘Age Quod Agis’, it was in the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/ first Global Twenty20 (T20) championship match against St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), as they certainly did well to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
With a paltry 87-7 posted from their allotment, the Heroes’ Circle-based boys seemed all but set to finish as runners up to the perennial schoolboy cricket kingpins. But, with determination and some tidy spell of spin bowling, the maroon and gold lowered the colours of their rural counterparts in a thrilling four-run win under lights at Sabina Park on Wednesday.
Captain Justin Beckford, with a 51-ball unbeaten 48, guided his team to what turned out to be a winning total, as Jordan Johnson later grabbed 4-11 in four overs, to bowl out STETHS for 83 in 19.5 overs and deny them a sixth-straight hold on the title.
Govasta Edmond, with 4-17 from four overs, led the STETHS’ bowling attack, but the batsmen failed to reciprocate with opener Sean Roye (15) their top scorer.
Scores: Wolmer’s 87-7 (20 overs); STETHS 83 all out (19.5 overs).
Wolmer’s Boys’ had won the toss and opted to take first strike in the late evening encounter.
It was a decision the 2022 Grace Shield losing finalists might have rued at one point, as Edmond, with a superb display of seam bowling, ripped through their top order.
Bowling full and straight, the pacy Edmond knocked over the stumps of openers Cory Hinds (two) and Matthew Aljoe for a duck, before having the dangerous Johnson (four) caught behind to leave Wolmer’s struggling at 10 for three.
Beckford tried to steady the innings as wickets continued to fall at regular intervals.
Edmond returned to trap Nicholas Holong (eighth) in front, after Odel Samuels accounted for Alex Hinds (two) and Nicholi Mckenzie (zero) with Brian Charles Largie (10) falling to the run out route.
It wasn’t until the latter part of the innings that Beckford decided to take matters into his own hands, attacking the slow bowlers, in particular, while hitting three boundaries and two big sixes.
Samuels ended with two for five from his four overs.
Despite letting slip to Beckford at the backend with the ball, the Santa Cruzbased school was still heavily favoured to come up trumps, and the manner in which they started certainly indicated that much.
But when Samuels (13) went leg before wicket to Omari Wedderburn and Johnson had Marlon Powell (10) caught, Wolmer’s Boys’ started to dream, especially when Mckenzie knocked over Roye with the score at 51 for three.
Still, STETHS had the upper hand, needing just 37 with seven wickets in hand and more than 10 overs to spare.
However, Wolmer’s Boys’ banked on their slow bowlers, and the gamble paid off as the remaining batsmen struggled against the spin.
When Johnson removed Anil Braham (one), Kobe Lewis (zero) and Kevoni Graham (five) in-between Malique Williams (seven) and Tyrick Bryan (four) run outs, STETHS required a further 28 in three overs with two wickets in hand.
And while the Grace Headley Cup winners went into the last over needing eights runs, they could only muster five, as Matthew Aljoe removed Edmond (five) and Javid Simpson (nine) to seal an unlikely win for Wolmer’s
Boys’.
Earlier, in the third-place play-off, urban area Grace Shield Champions Excelsior High registered an eight-wicket win over Manchester High.
Scores: Manchester High 101-9 (20 overs); Excelsior High 103-2 (18 overs)