DOVER?JUNIORS?have moved one step further towards retaining their title in the Inspire Sports/National Sports Council Under-13 Cricket Competition.
They marched into the semi-finals with a comprehensive 93-run win over Police Juniors in the quarter-finals on Sunday.
They will be joined by CounterPoint Wanderers Juniors ‘A’, Carlton Juniors and Fusionz Boutique Passage United who came away with victories over Isolation Cavaliers Juniors, BWUCCU Northern Cricket Academy and St. Catherine Juniors respectively.
In the semi-finals, which are slated for Sunday March 16, Dover Juniors will host Carlton Juniors at Dover and Passage United will meet Wanderers Juniors ‘A’ at Passage Road.
The final is set for Sunday, March 23 at a venue to be decided.
At Dover, after the prolific run-scorer Nyeem Young was trapped lbw for a rare failure, the fast-bowling allrounder and captain made amends, snatching seven for 20 from six pacy overs as Police Juniors were bundled out for a meagre 65 in 16.1 overs while chasing 157 to win.
Earlier, Naje Bishop held the innings together with a responsible knock of 54, with six fours from 66 balls. Eventually, Dover Juniors closed on 158 for six off the allotted 35 overs. This was after the much- improved Police Juniors, who reached this stage for the first time had kept the champions in check in the first part of the innings.
At Passage Road, Indal Persaud, who has come on leaps and bounds, turned in a match-winning all-round effort against newcomers St Catherine Juniors.
Persaud hit 51 in Passage United’s 145 for six from their 35 overs after they elected to bat. He got good support from the unrelated Shamar Persaud, who made 33. Jonathan Griffith took three for 23. In reply, medium-pacer Indal claimed three for 16 and the visitors tumbled to a miserly 54 all out in 17 overs. They lost by a wide margin of 91 runs.
At Dayrells Road, brothers Hayden and Jake Hart, with four for 17 and 12 respectively combined to dismiss Isolation Cavaliers Juniors for a meagre 55 in 24.2 overs. Wanderers Juniors ‘A’ then sped to a nine-wicket victory with as many as 24. 5 overs left. Nico Reifer made an unbeaten 18 to carry his tally to 317 runs at an average of 158.50.
Over at the Desmond Haynes Oval, Northern Cricket Academy were bowled out for a paltry 84 in 31.5 overs. Amari Waithe was the pick of the bowlers ending with three for 10. However, Carlton Juniors were made to fight all the way as medium-pacer Akeem Phillips bagged four for 24 and Ramon Simmons two for 11.
Player-of-the-match Savio Fergusson saw his side home to a four-wicket triumph with a courageous undefeated 22, when they reached the target in the 22nd over. He also had two for 14 in Northern Cricket Academy’s turn at the crease.