Rain curtails Spoerri double-wicket competition

Mid-afternoon showers curtailed play in the annual Hermon Spoerri double-wicket cricket competition for Business House teams at the Red Stripe Oval last Sunday, but not before three teams had advanced to the semi-final round.

Thus, the semi-finals and final were duly postponed to a date and venue to be announced by the Business House Cricket Board.

From the 12 participating teams, the three to advance are Jamaica Broilers 'A', Sagicor, and JUTC 'A'.

JUTC 'A' have drawn a bye to the final and will await the winner of the lone semi-final clash between Jamaica Broilers 'A' and Sagicor.

Jamaica Broilers 'A', represented by Andrew Davis and Andre Henry, beat defending champions Jamalco (Errol Thomas Jr, Sherwain Dixon) by two runs in quarter-final action. Sagicor (Bryan Wright, Anthony Wadsworth) defeated National Housing Trust (Oshane Wilson, Antwaine Stephens) by 31 runs in another quarter-final match, while JUTC (Gary Pink, Glen Stultz) defeated one of the favourites, Red Stripe 'A' (Wayne Cuff, Richard Allen), by four runs in the third quarter-final.

Earlier, pre-tournament favourites LIME, with national players Horace Miller and Andre McCarthy, were knocked out in the first round by JUTC 'A' in a high-scoring match. JUTC made 60 while LIME replied with 46.

Meanwhile, the first semi-final in the Reggae Jammin 50-over league will be played tomorrow, with former champions LIME facing Sagicor at Chalmers Avenue, starting at 10 a.m. Jamaica Broilers will meet Jamalco in the other semi-final on Sunday, October 7.

Scotia win InterBank one-day rally

Defending champions Scotiabank Group won both the dress parade and one-day rally in the 2012 Inter-bank football competition at the National Water Commission (NWC) playing field, Mona, last Sunday.

In the dress parade, Scotia were adjudged the winners ahead of BoJ and RBC, from nine participating teams. They then defeated Pan Caribbean 2-0 in the rally, with a 21st-minute strike from Anthony Greenland and an own goal earlier on.

The league for the Norman Goodison Trophy gets under way tomorrow at the NWC playing field with four matches. Defending champions Scotia will open against Pan Caribbean at 2 p.m.

Big netball clash in Portmore

Power of Faith Ministries (PFM) and Waltham Park New Testament will vie for the title in today's final of the PFM Church Netball League at PFM Sports Complex, lot 10C, Portmore Town Centre. Match time is 2:30 p.m.

The final will be preceded by a third-place play-off between beaten semi-finalists Cedar Grove Baptist and Lighthouse Assembly, at 1 p.m.

Meanwhile, PFM, led by the league's topscorer, goal attack Debbie-ann Coghiel, with a game-high 16 goals from 24 attempts, defeated Cedar Grove Baptist 29-12 in semi-final action last Saturday. Goal shoot Alicia Green supported with nine goals from 16 attempts. Marva Wright shot six from eight attempts to become Cedar Grove's main scorer, while Jody Lawrence scored 2/7 attempts.

In the other semi-final, Waltham Park New Testament outclassed Lighthouse Assembly 37-8. Janille Green, who played as goal attack for the first time this season, scored 32 of 35 attempts in a display of deft shooting. Colleen Lewis, five goals from seven attempts, scored most goals for Lighthouse.

Duncans, Little America fight for semis

Little America (three points) and Duncans (three points) will square off at 4 p.m. at the Waterford playing field in the Fenley Douglas-sponsored Waterford Corner League football competition tomorrow, to see which team joins already qualified Oneity (six points) in Zone A.

Oneity should finish the preliminaries on a high note as they face Harmons - which have not scored a point since the season started, in the opening game at the venue at 2 p.m.

Meanwhile, Cool Runnings and Wigton FC both advanced to the semi-finals as they played out a 2-2 draw last Sunday. Nardo 'JR' Brown scored both goals for Cool Runnings, while Javon Roberts netted Wigton's goals. Cool Runnings topped Zone B with seven points, while Wigton were the runners-up with five.

Passagefort to continue winning

Defending champs Passagefort United are expected to continue their winning ways as they have a fairly easy task against Portsmouth in a Colin Fagan-sponsored South East St Catherine Constituency Domino League match at Myrtle Way, Old Passagefort, tomorrow afternoon.

Passagefort should be full of confidence after they conquered Westchester two weeks ago, a team that was unbeaten for their first four games. Meanwhile, Westchester Rudiz are expected to rebound with a comfortable win as their opponents Garveymeade should offer little or no resistance in a match set for Garveymeade Sports Club. Garveymeade have only mustered a point in five matches.

Westchester are joint leaders with 16 points alongside Waterford United, which have a bye this week. In other games, third-place Passagefort (13 points) will start favourites against Portsmouth United on their home turf at Myrtle Way, Old Passagefort; Cumberland host Ken's Wildflower at Cumberland Community Centre; while Portmore Gardens All Stars will face the music against Rising Sun at Portmore Close, Portmore Gardens. All games begin at 1 p.m.

Campbell, Delbert Gayle hit T20 centuries

Colours International's John-Ross Campbell and Jamaica Under-19 representative, Delbert Gayle of Portsmouth, highlighted the opening round of the new-look Portmore Cricket Association Wray & Nephew T20 club cricket championship with attacking centuries last Sunday.

Campbell battered his opposing bowlers all over the park with a sensational 137 off just 81 balls, with 12 fours and seven sixes. Shane Brooks slammed 86 off 54 balls as Colours piled up a massive 290-3 off their 20 overs against Silverstone at Portsmouth. Wayne Waisome took 3-36 for Silvertone.

Silverstone were blown away for only 32 in 9.4 overs, handing Colours a 258-run victory. Ralston Nelson bagged 5-18 for Colours.

Gayle hit an even 100 off 52 balls against Braeton Red Cap in his team's 94-run win at Hamilton Gardens. Scores: Portsmouth 210-3, Gayle 100; Delroy Smith 51 not out. Braeton 116 all out (17.1). Kemar Mussington hit 57 off 60 balls for Braeton, while Gayle copped 4-11.

In other results, at Bridgeport sports ground, Belmont defeated Ken's Wildflower by five wickets. Scores, Ken's 113/9 (20); Howard Harris 22, Junior Stewart 19, Derron Royal 2-8; Belmont 114/5 (16.5), Damian Jacobs 47, Miguel Gordon 37; Myron Chin 2-20. In other games, GC Foster defeated Passagefort by 84 runs, with Gavin Wallace 76 and Wayne Morgan 70, who scored half centuries out of 201-3 for the victors. The competition continues tomorrow.

Marine Park, Friendship aim to stay perfect

Marine Park Dolphins and Friendship go into their final preliminary-round matches tomorrow at the Ascot High School Court, with identical perfect seven-win records, and will hope that their unbeaten streaks still stand after the completion of their matches in the St Catherine Netball Association League.

Group one team Marine Park play Greater Portmore High at 4 p.m., while Group three club Friendship oppose Westchester A at 4:50 p.m. Last Sunday, Marine Park had a lopsided 42-7 win over Caymanas Gardens, while Friendship crushed Flames B 37-5.

Peter Bunting football semis

Hanbury Community Centre will host tomorrow's semi-finals showdown in the Peter Bunting Central Manchester constituency football competition.

The double-header kicks off at 1:30 with the Mandeville police team taking on Blue Mountain. However, huge interest will surround the second game at 3:30, when hosts Hanbury tackle favourites Porus.

Quite interestingly, Mandeville Police and Hanbury competed in the same preliminary zone, while Porus and Blue Mountain appeared in the same one.

In the quarter-finals played two weekends ago, Porus ran away impressive 6-1 winners over Heartease, while Blue Mountain got the better of Settlement 2-1.

In a contest where all the goals were scored in extra time, the lawmen prevailed over Inverness 2-1. Hanbury won an exciting contest with Old England 4-3, in a game where one player from each team scored a hat-trick.

Porus is the only team among the four not to have dropped a single point. In six matches to date, they have scored a whopping 27 goals while conceding four.

Clarendon Business House semis

The previously unfancied pair of Epic Hardware and Chef's Restaurant will contest the final of the Tait's Pharmacy/National Wholesale-sponsored Clarendon Business House league tomorrow morning at Mineral Heights Sports Complex.

Kick-off is at 7 a.m., with the third place play-off between the fallen big guns Young's Sports and the Farmers team.

Zone A winners Farmers are pitted against Zone B runners-up Chef's Restaurant, while Young's Sports, the Zone B winners, take on Zone A's second-place qualifier Epic Hardware.

In last weekend's semi-finals, Chef's continued their giant-killing ways, stopping the unbeaten Zone A winners Farmers 1-0. The previous weekend, they were also responsible for ending the run of defending champions Juici-Patties.

The second semi-final saw Epic Hardware, the runners-up from Zone A, beating Young's Sports 3-1 on penalties. The two had earlier battled to an exciting 3-3 draw.

Football continues progress in Clarendon - Ricketts

Football in Clarendon continues to progress, despite severe loss of revenue from the closure of the multi-million deal who had with former communications firm CLARO two seasons ago.

Michael Ricketts, the FA president, disclosed Thursday night at the parish's annual awards hosted at the Bridge Palm Hotel in Toll Gate that the parish's Division One and Two leagues, which were merged this season, as well as the knockout competition, were still not formally sponsored. However, he gave hope that a new deal could be brokered soon.

Captain's Bakery & Grill remains the parish's most important partner as sponsors of its premier competition, the Major League, while insurance giants Guardian Life sponsor its youth league and the duo of Tait's Pharmacy and National Wholesale picks up the tab for its Business House league.

Ricketts listed four areas as Clarendon's major accomplishments: the home of two Premier League teams - Humble Lions and Sporting Central Academy; the presence of five FIFA referees - the most by any association or parish; the presence of four players in the current national Under-17 squad; and Lennon's five-year reign as the national school girls' football team.

An interesting feature of Thursday night's awards ceremony was the litany of political and social figures at its head table. Among them were the president (Captain Horace Burrell) and general secretary (Horace Reid) of the Jamaica Football Federation, Minister of Local Government and Community Development Noel Ascott, MP Mike Henry, the custos, the mayor, as well as the president of the Chamber of Commerce.

Comfort score massive T20 win

The quarter-finals of the Peter Bun-ting-sponsored Manchester community Twenty20 cricket competition will be played today.

Broadleaf will entertain Porus, Comfort host Rhyde, New Hall host NCU and Gospel Funhouse take on Bombay. Following today's matches, the pairings will be ascertained and the semi-finals played tomorrow.

In completed matches last weekend, NCU defeated May Day by nine wickets in a game reduced to 10 overs because of rain. Batting first, May Day posted 47 for five, but NCU got home with the loss of just one wicket.

In the biggest score of the league, Comfort posted 272 off their allotted 30 overs, with Sheldon Allen scoring 109. May Day were bowled out for 68.