In Your Neighbourhood

Pattex Cup skittles semis tomorrow

Eagles will meet Mister C in the first semi-final of the Pattex Cup skittles competition tomorrow at Mystix Sports Bar, 78 3/4 Hagley Park Road, starting at noon.

Prior to the semi-finals, Zone 'A' leaders Waltham will oppose Starliner to decide the winners of this zone, but Waltham are basically in the driver's seat. They will only need to avoid a 12-1 defeat in order to advance, where they will meet Rowe's Strikers in the second semi-final.

The first semi-final between respective zone winners Eagles and Mister C is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m., followed by the second at 5 p.m.

Significantly, Rowe's Strikers have qualified as the best third-place team after beating Mercury 11-2 at Willies (Three Miles) on Sunday, while home team Willies clipped Eagles 7-6.

Despite suffering a rare loss, Eagles not only won their zone but topped the overall standings with 78 points.

In addition, their veteran player Leslie 'Toothpick' Puranda won eight of his nine singles match to emerge the competition's MVP, while teammates Robert McKen and Dane Jones tied with Mister C's pair of Simon Edwards and David Doyley to share the MVP doubles title with seven wins.

The ladies MVP singles was shared by Mister C's Pauline Gentles and Starliner's Stacey Miller, while the mixed doubles saw Chris Greaves and Melissa Cornwall of Waltham emerging MVP. All will receive cash incentives. The winners of tomorrow's semis will meet in the final on Sunday, January 29.

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Chelsea pool tourney coming

The Chelsea Hotel and Pool Bar will stage an eight-ball open double elimination pool tournament at Chelsea Avenue, New Kingston, on the weekend of January 28 and 29. The tournament offers a first prize of $60,000 and trophy. Entry fee is $2,000.
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Central Hurdles & Relays today

The fifth staging of the Central Hurdles & Relays, brainchild of former Manchester High track and field coach Jerry Holness, gets under way this morning at GC Foster College.

Meet Director is Maurice Wilson, a GC Foster lecturer, Holmwood Technical and JAAA's national coach.

Today's events begin at 8:30 with the long jump, while the 4x800m Open for men and women will be the first event on the track. The 200m for clubs and institutions follow, before its main focus, the hurdles, gets under way.

Action will then break for a short opening ceremony where the organisers have chosen the JAAA as its main honouree.

The afternoon programme will see the 4x100m as well as the running of the 400m for high-school boys and girls, clubs, and institutions.

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South Central cross zones begin

The South Central Confed Super League goes into its second phase this weekend with the start of the cross-zone matches. Teams are currently divided into two zones of six.

The overall standings read: Meadows (13), Rivoli (12), Spartan (8), Bodles, Royal Lakes and Naggo Head (7 apiece), Monymusk and New Green (6), Super Action (5), Dela Vega and Downs (4) and Newland (1).

In the only game played last week, New Green created a major upset in defeating Rivoli 1-0 at Brooks Park. That result propelled New Green from the relegation-threatened bottom four. The loss snapped Rivoli's four-game winning streak.

Tomorrow: New Green will have a golden chance to carry out another giant-killing performance when they host leaders Meadows at Brooks Park

Today: Royal Lakes vs Naggo Head at Lime Tree Oval; Bodles vs Newland; Dela Vega vs Super Action

Tomorrow: Monymusk vs Spartan; and Rivoli vs Downs.

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Manchester Major League round-up

All four games were drawn in last weekend's second round of the Captain's Bakery-sponsored Manchester Major League.

Mile Gully, who won 3-2 against Hillstars in round one,were held to a 2-2 draw by Porus. Comfort, previous 2-0 winners over Georges Valley, could only manage a 0-0 effort against Kendal. Georges earned their first point drawing 0-0 with Cobbla Gully Strikers, while Starliner and Villa United ended 2-2.

The league continues today with Mile Gully hosting Georges Valley, while there will be three games tomorrow. Kirkvine will host a double-header at 3:30 where Hillstars entertain Porus and Kendal tackle Cobbla Gully Strikers. The Comfort vs Starliner match-up will be played at Brooks Park at 1:00 p.m. as the curtain-raiser to the Confed Super League game between New Green and Meadows of St Catherine.

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2012 Clarendon Major League kick-off

A new season of the Clarendon Major League kicks off today at the Four Paths Community Centre.

The competition is now back to the exclusive sponsorship of Captain's Bakery.

An official opening ceremony will begin at noon. This will include a dress parade of all 10 competing teams. The opening match at 1:30 p.m. features promoted Jamalco, who won the Division One competition last year, and New Bowens, the 2010 champions who were relegated after one year in the South Central Confed Super League.

The feature game at 3:30 sees the homeside Four Paths, runners-up to Jamalco, tackling Woodhall, who finished third in the Major League last season.

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Wray & Nephew St Elizabeth Major League

Former champions Black River are sole leaders of the Wray & Nephew St Elizabeth Major League.

Despite drawing with Young Brazil 2-2 last weekend, Black River moved to 22 points, four clear of Tafari Lions on 18. Appleton and Parottee come next on 17 points, while Burnt Ground (16) round out the top-five placed teams with five games to close the preliminary stage of the competition.

In other results last week, Appleton swamped Vineyard 6-0, Parottee edged Braes River 1-0, Newell won 2-0 over Mountainside, while Burnt Ground recorded a 2-1 victory over Knoxwood.

Today's games: Vineyard vs Braes River; Young Brazil vs Appleton

Tomorrow: Mountainside vs Black River; Burnt Ground vs Newell

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Classic test for Colours

Colours Sports Bar, currently in eighth place with 21 points, will get a stern test as they face champions Caribbean Classic in the eighth round of the Impulse-sponsored Portmore/St Catherine domino league at Portmore Avenue, Portmore Gardens, tomorrow morning.

Classic, currently in fourth place, are coming off a narrow 300-297 loss to arch-rivals International last Sunday, and will be keen to bounce back immediately. Colours blew away Hurricane 300-283 in a mild upset and are riding high. But Classic, at their best, should be too hot for Colours. In the past

Masterpiece/Eradication game would have been the feature, but tomorrow's game pits two teams heading in different directions. Eradication are undefeated and lie fifth on 24 points, while Masterpiece (18 points) have struggled and are now at ninth.

Another game of interest, will see Hurricane travel to Port Henderson Road to play home team ISCF. In other games, Seamaster welcome Ackee Pod, Ken's Wildflower host Garveymeade in a game that can go either way, Spring Village entertain Correctional Services, while second-place Right Stuff play away to Westchester Nuckuz in a match that the visitors are expected to win easily.

All games begin at 11:30 a.m.

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Braeton, Portals in shoot-out match

Braeton United and East Portmore Portals, two teams with potent attacks, meet in the opening match of a LIME Portmore Division Two football league double-header at the Hellshire field tomorrow starting at 1 p.m.

Portals have in their line-up the prolific Keino Walker, who has struck five goals this season, while Braeton will pin their hopes on striker Valdo Morgan and Saede Francis who struck twice in two minutes as Braeton spanked Garveymeade 3-1 on Sunday. Braeton had a big hiccup last Thursday as they had an off day, and Westchester punished them 3-0 through goals from Orlando Bryan, Lusheng Davis, and Gary White.

The second game at 3 p.m. pits home team Hellshire United against resurgent Westport. Last Thursday, Westport blanked Bridgeport 3-0, and this game should be quite competitive. At the Westchester field, Bridgeport and Garveymeade, teams at the bottom of the standings, square off at 1 p.m. before Daytona oppose Westchester in the feature match at 3 p.m.

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Old Harbour Bay triumph in mid-season final

Old Harbour Bay United won their first trophy of the season after they defeated arch-rivals Travellers 2-0 in a LIME St Catherine FA Division One mid-season final at the Prison Oval last Thursday.

Old Harbour Bay took the lead in the 54th minute when Jevaughn Smith scored. Smith was assisted on the goal by strike partner Lowan Myers. Myers broke free down the right side and unselfishly turned the ball across goal and Smith hit it home.

Devroy Gray made the game safe for Old Harbour Bay when he netted a minute before regulation time.

The game ended on a sour note as the captain of Travellers, Craig Richards, was shown a red card by referee Oneal Clayton for unsportsmanlike behaviour in stoppage time.

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Three cricket servants honoured

Three cricket stalwarts were honoured by the Portmore Metropolitan Cricket League at a recent awards presentation atop the roof of Ken's Wildflower Restaurant and Bar.

The three included Pat Rousseau, a former West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president, who also delivered the keynote address. The other two recipients were Wayne Lewis, a former Jamaica batsman, and Easton McMorris, a former Jamaica captain and West Indies opener. McMorris played 13 Test matches for the West Indies with a top score of 125 made against India in 1961. Lewis, a former Kingston College stand out cricketer, who represented Jamaica between 1984-1995 and has a top-score of 134. The awardees were given plaques courtesy of Wilco Sports.