Jacobs bowls Melbourne into final

Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

A Man-of-the-Match performance from leg-spinner Damion Jacobs yesterday guided Melbourne to a 10-wicket win over St Elizabeth in semi-final one of the two-day Jamaica Cricket Association Senior Cup at Melbourne Oval.

Jacobs, who entered the game as the competition's leading wicket-taker, claimed five for 39 in the second innings to go with his three for 32 in the first as Melbourne set a victory total of 12 runs, achieving their target for the loss of no wicket.

Resuming on 324 for nine in reply to St Elizabeth's first innings total of 111, Melbourne added another three runs and were dismissed for 330.

St Elizabeth, 219 runs behind, went about conducting damage control, however, thanks to Jacobs, who earlier this year was named as a reserve in the national Twenty20 squad, and off-spinner Shamar Anderson, four for 73, the visitors were never allowed to settle and in the end were dismissed for 230.

Jacobs took his season tally to an impressive 51 wickets, while batting for St Elizabeth, the in-form Kenroy Williams 88, Kerry Holness four and the returning Jerome Taylor, 32, made most runs.

Sticking to our game plan

"It was a matter of sticking to our game plan today, that of keeping them under pressure and it worked," said Melbourne captain, André McCarthy.

"We now plan to take the next three weeks off and prepare for the final as our goal is to win title, a feat we have not achieved in over 10 years," he added.

St Elizabeth manager and caretaker coach, Richard Walters, put the loss down to a poor first innings batting display.

"We batted poorly in the first innings and that forced us to play catch up cricket, which we did not do well," said Walters.

"But given the fact that we were not playing our strongest team due to a number of players playing overseas, we are not too disappointed, as a number of young players equipped themselves well."

The second semi-final between the Jamaica Defence Force and Manchester, to be played at Up Park Camp, will be contested in two weeks' time due to the upcoming Digicel one-day international matches between the West Indies and New Zealand at Sabina Park.

Meanwhile, the 2012 two-day Junior Cup crown went to the University of the West Indies (UWI), which defeated Kingston by six wickets in the final at the University of Technology yesterday.

Kingston made 152 and 82 with former national Under-19 fast bowler, Jermaine Cole, claiming three for 14 and Mario Grant, two for six, to end as the leading wicket-takers.

UWI, in response were dismissed for 111 in their first innings, but rebounded to post 125 for four in their second innings with Shane Brooks, 41, and Desmond Jones, 71, making most runs.