IT WILL BE a battle of spin when Christ Church Dolphins clash with first-timers St John Crusaders in tonight’s final of the C.O. Williams/UWI Inter Parish Twenty20 Tournament at the Three Ws Oval.
St John will rely heavily on their off-spinning quartet of Barbados and West Indies “A” Twenty20 player Ashley Nurse, captain Shamar Cooke, mystery bowler Richmael Jordan and Amory “Spin Pooch” Holder.
On the other hand, Christ Church’s attack will be led by West Indies left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn, leg-spinner Nikolai Charles, captain Mike Matthews and off-spinning all-rounder Jamar Phillips.
Both teams also have a medium-fast all-rounder who can tilt the game in their favour. St John’s talisman is Ulric Batson, who usually opens both batting and bowling while new Barbados T20 selectee Carlos Brathwaite opens the bowling and bats at No.3 for the Dolphins, who will be playing in their third consecutive final.
But the most feared man on either team will definitely be the big-hitting opener Martin Nurse, whose typically attacking 65 off 43 balls, decorated with six fours and four sixes on Tuesday night, led Christ Church to an easy six-wicket victory over former champions, St Peter Voyagers.
Nurse formalised the result by smashing off-spinner Don O’neal for three sixes in one over after former West Indies fast bowlers Pedro Collins and Corey Collymore had unsuccessfully tried to make inroads into the Christ Church batting.
St. John Crusaders, had defeated last year’s winners St. Lucy Pirates by seven runs in the first semi-final on Monday night. The final starts at 7 p.m.
Summarised scores of second semifinal:
St. Peter Voyagers 107-8 in 20 overs (Orman Kellman 23, Kirk Edwards 21, Akeem Springer 11, Dario Cummins 10; Michael Matthews 3-22, Nikolai Charles 2-12). Christ Church Dolphins 108-4 in 15.5 overs (Martin Nurse 65, Carlos Brathwaite 17; Jamar Griffith 2-21). Christ Church Dolphins beat St. Peter Voyagers by six wickets. (EZS)
