The rains finally held up for the National Sports Council to stage the Inter- Parish road tennis semi-finals, but St James could not stop the thunder and lightning as St Michael A team cantered into their fifth successive finals at the Deighton “Pa” Roach Tennis Centre in Bush Hall on Sunday night.
Previous bitter opponents Mark “Venom” Griffith and Antoine “Lil Man” Daniel brought thunder and lightning respectively as they predictably dismissed St James’ David “Ja Paul” Phillips and the animated Stig Merritt, who was “enjoying” his “birthnight”.
Ironically, Merritt received tremendous support from the large crowd which remained until just before midnight as they wanted the affable player to fight so that Daniel could unveil his full arsenal of smashes, chops and deadly injections, which almost landed Merritt on his face twice.
Daniel at least respected his opponent’s birthday by refusing to sow him, winning the match 21-11, 21-10. For the entire game Merritt played the role of ball boy chasing after some thunderous shots while exclaiming, “Wha’ I can’t get this man read!”
Although St Michael had qualified from the time Daniel won the first game, the fans demanded more and both players consented to play the second, although unnecessary, game. So Merritt got the chance to do more ball retrieving.
Earlier Griffith had started slowly before dismissing Phillips 21-18, 21-13, with Griffith displaying his customary tenacious defence while revealing some uncharacteristic attacking shots.
St Michael also moved into the masters’ finals with the consummate showman Jeffrey “Bing Crosby” Layne entering his third finals by trouncing an out of sorts Andrew “Drax Hall” Goodridge of St George 21-12, 21-14.
Goodridge had been given some hope by his teammate Jefferson “Liver” Rudder as Rudder had lost to a resurgent Andrew “Cripple” Holder 10-21, 21-18, 21-16.
At least St George were able to smile on the night as their B team scored an upset to stop St Michael from reaching their fourth finals.
A fit Bruce Pounder slipped up to lose to tai chi style player Junior “Ju-Ju” Collymore 21-15, 24-26, 11-21. However, former Caribbean Volleyball MVP Ivor Lashley then smashed St George into the finals for the first time by beating Terry Smith 21-14, 21-17.
St George also reached their fifth successive women’s finals as defending champion Kim Holder continued from the Saturday night rained out match against Juliet Worrell winning 21-17, 21-12.
Dario Hinds moved into the 21 and under finals by stopping Lester Vaughan student Keon Murrell 21-17, 21-19 while St Michael’s 15-and-under player Justin Smith won by default over Nathan Thomas of St Thomas.
The second set of semi-finals will be played at Bush Hall tonight, with Christ Church looking to advance to their fifth successive finals in the A and B category while St John and St Thomas will be looking for finals glory as well.