Former Barbados No. 2 road tennis player Anthony “Ears” Mitchell put on a display of sheer skill and class to carry perennial contenders Christ Church into the semi-finals of the National Sports Council’s Inter-parish championship when the action continued at Road View, St Peter, on Friday night.
In a fitting climax to the night, Mitchell had to battle from one game down to defeat St Lucy’s new recruit Curtis Jones 22-24, 21-18, 21-17 with both players showing why they would rank in the top six in the island. Christ Church’s run of making the last four ‘A’ Class finals seemed under threat after they stumbled in the opening match-up.
Marson Johnson, who has made three previous finals for Christ Church, showed tremendous form in dismissing a struggling Kerry “TC” Francis 21-15 in the first game.
However, Francis, who is a devout Christian, with his wife and family on the side line praying fervently, fought back to win the match 15-21, 21-15, 21-18 to make the Jones/Mitchell match-up even more significant.
Mitchell was in sublime touch, but so too was Jones, as from a score of 18-18, Mitchell moved to 20-18 before Jones locked the scores at 20, 21 and 22 before taking the opener. After Mitchell evened the contest by winning the second game 21-18, the organisers held up the play for over 20 minutes to determine what score line would determine who advanced if Mitchell took the match.
With the suggestion that he needed to win by two points, Mitchell struggled to shake off Jones, with the scores locking up to 16. At that stage Mitchell moved away to 18-16, followed by an ace and then game and match point at 20-16. Jones would only win one more point before Mitchell took the thriller to see Christ Church ‘A’ following suit of their other team in making a rocky trip into the semis.
Earlier in the night, the Christ Church Masters of poultry association, Glen “Chicken” Harris and Ian “Chicken” Yearwood, stopped St Peter to move into the semis. Harris easily disposed of Winfield Trotman 21-15, 21-15.
However, Yearwood stuttered past Jefferson “Scant” Scantlebury 21-14, 15-21 with the decider being irrelevant, since Christ Church would have qualified with a better point ratio.
The ‘B’ Class battle was another example of Christ Church needing one top-class player to carrying a weaker partner. Marlon Edwards of St Peter defeated the inexperienced Randy “Cat” Harewood 21-14, 16-21, 21-14 to give St Peter hope.
That hope was vapourised when the deadly Victor “Earth” Ward buried Kim Rock 21-6, 21-11 to carry Christ Church forward. Both Rock and Ward are choppers, but then Justin Marville and Kobe Bryant are also basketball players.
The inter-parish wagon rolls around to Superlative, St George, this morning with St Thomas and St John clashing. Defending St Thomas master Ricky “Body Doc” Hoyte promises a treat for his fans while the combination of Adrian “Dan” Skeete and Anderson “St George” Sealy will be on parade for St John. )
