Former Champions Racecourse and Fairfield complete the semifinal lineup of the SDC/Wray and Nephew National Community T20 Cricket Competition after playoff wins over Jonson Mountain and Sherwood Forest, respectively, at the Trelawny Multipurpose Stadium on Sunday November 14, 2021.
In what was an entertaining game, Racecourse batted first and openers Wayne Davis and Marcel Parchment walked to the crease and immediately took control of the contest as the two shared in a 104-run opening stand.
Davis was the main aggressor as he found the boundary with regularity. He took some time to settle first, with Racecourse getting 38 runs from the 6 Powerplay overs with Parchment getting the first boundary of the game.
However, having gotten the read of the pitch, Davis quickly took the fight to the Johnson Mountain bowlers and took 23 runs from the 11th overs bowled by Jevaughn Shaw. Two overs later, though, Johnson Mountain would have their first success with Parchment dismissed for 36 off the bowling of Romario Coley.
Parchment would go on to add 27 more runs for the second wicket with Albert Gopie, the two pushed the scoring along as Racecourse eventually got to 168 for the loss of 5. Davis eventually dismissed for a well-played 70 with Gopie 17, Krishmar Santoki 10 and Jason Wedderburn 17 the other wickets to go. Racecourse in their Dominance got 49 runs from the last 5 overs.
Now set 169 runs for victory and a place in the semifinals Reno Sinclair signaled his intention early, scoring a boundary off the first ball from Santoki. The former West Indies bowler responded by limiting the over to just 5 runs. There was no such luck for Sherwaine Dixon, who was smashed for four 4’s in his opening over with Sinclair Yahfi Gould looking to make a fight of the target. But as he has been doing for years, the experience of Santoki came to the fore as he had Sinclair caught with all 20 of his runs coming via boundaries.
Sinclair’s dismissal with the score 22 for 1 brought Gavaska Malachi to the crease and looked to pick-up where the opener left off. He scored two boundaries on his way to 13 from 8 balls, with Gould chipping away at the other end, first with a 6 and then with a couple of singles. The two managed to add 24 runs to the total as Racecourse tightened the screws on their opponents.
The decision to give the ball to Gopie provided immediate results as he had Malachi caught for 20. Jair Campbell was the new batsman and he joined Gould, but the partnership didn’t last long as Chevonnie Grant turned the game on its head in over number 13
Grant Bagged 3 wickets in one over as the Johnson Mountain slipped from 62 for 2 to 64 for 6. A wicket in each of the next two overs would signal the end for Johnson Mountain with the innings drawing to a conclusion at 82 all out. Grant ended with 4 for 9 while Santoki and Gopie had 2 each.
With the win Racecourse moved into the last four and set-up a meeting with Links United on Saturday November 20, 2021.
In the other play-off game Fairfield got the better of Sherwood Forest by just 5 runs.
Batting first Fairfield were restricted to 113 for 7, with Triston Coleman top scoring with 61.
It took only 4 overs for Sherwood Forest to strike with Courtney Allen removing Fitzroy Lawrence for 5 with the first ball of the over to end with a wicket maiden. The Orlando Drysdale followed-up with the wicket of Jamaine Morgan with the first delivery of his third over with Fairfield now reeling at 12 for 2. It was then left to Coleman and Sanjay Walker to repair the damage at the top and the two got to work immediately. Walker was like a spectator as he watched Coleman taking the attack to the opposition bowlers. Walker could not find the boundary in his knock of 11 and, after adding 30 runs, Coleman was removed by Faustino Lammie.
That lead to another slide as Renford Boadie followed up with the wicket of Sherdon Allen for 1. All this time Coleman was going about his business and National player Jamie Merchant gave him a helping hand. The two added 61 runs between over number 12 and 18 with Merchant hitting two 4’s and one 6 on his way to 25. He watched as Coleman brought up what turned out to be a match-winning half-century but the union was not allowed to develop and was broken by Carl Brissitte who bowled Merchant with the score 106 for 5. The new batsman Jawardi Francis failed to trouble the scores as he went for a duck with Coleman being the last wicket, run out trying to maximize his team’s total 113 for 7 is how Faifield ended after 20 overs with Drysdale ending with 2 for 9.
Knowing their best chance of defending 113 runs was by bowling out their opponent, Fairfield Cricket Team was on the attack from the start and struck from the first over when Leighton Leslie had Lerone Tyrell caught for 1. Romario Marshall then followed-up in the second over by removing Raymond Hanson for 3 with just 5 runs on the board. That brought Nyron Nathan and Keron Burke to the crease with Sherwood Forest well and truly on the backfoot at 23 for 2 at the end of the powerplay. The two found runs hard to come by as Fairfield tightened their grip on the match, conceding just 16 runs from the next 4 overs, to have the opposition 39 for 2 at the halfway mark.
They managed to get 8 runs from the 11th over and looked as though they were looking to push the scoring. But the return of Garland Palmer immediately bore fruit as he had Nathan caught for 15. 3 runs later Burke was also back in the Pavilion as Leslie had his second wicket and Fairfield had full control of the contest.
Drysdale and Boadie however weren’t giving up on the chase with 56 runs to get from the last 7 overs. They took 10 runs from the 14th over from Palmer and followed up with 9 runs from the next bowled by Merchant. They Equation was now down to 37 runs needed from the last 30 deliveries and momentum was now with Sherwood Forest. The 16th over bowled by Marshall went for 13 runs but Merchant was able to pull things back in the 17th which went for 6 runs. But Leslie’s final over would prove to be the key for Fairfield as he had Drysdale caught for 27 from 27 balls, and the over going for just 3 runs with the score 98 for 5.
The equation was however a manageable 15 runs from 12 balls but it was Merchant who had ball in hand. He started with a dot delivery but then conceded just 3 runs from the next 4 balls. With one ball to compete his spell Merchant had Brissett caught for 1 from 3 balls and it was now 12 to get from the final over.
Fairfield turned to Allen to who had bowled 2 overs for 10 runs and proved to be the right decision as he conceded only 4 runs from the final over to lead Fairfield to a 7-run victory and a spot in the semifinal against Paradise C.C
Boadie was left not out at the end on 16 as Leslie ended with 3 for 16.