IN YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD

• Fifth JCA/Scotiabank Prep Schools cricket competition launched

The fifth staging of the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA)/ Scotiabank Prep Schools cricket competition was launched on Tuesday at the Police Sports Complex at Elletson Road in Kingston.

With a sponsorship of $3 million this year, approximately 800 boys and girls across the island will have the opportunity to learn about the game, develop their skills and in some cases get their first taste of competitive cricket.

"Cricket means so much to the region. As a game, it has deep cultural, emotional and economic significance. The rich history and tradition can only continue if properly nurtured and supported. Our role is to continue to support the many committed men and women of the JCA and the enthusiastic coaches who are happy to pass on their love for and expertise in this great game," said Monique Todd, vice-president, marketing, corporate affairs and public relations, Scotiabank.

Scotiabank's sponsorship of $3m will help the JCA stage some 133 matches across the island among 45 schools between April and June.

"We are extremely happy to partner with Scotiabank, particularly at this time when we are marking our 50th anniversary," said JCA President Lyndel Wright. "These young people, both boys and girls, are the future of cricket for both Jamaica and the West Indies."

The order of the series will see schools placed in zones of six teams each for the preliminary phase. Surrey has four zones, Cornwall two and Middlesex two. The two zones in Middlesex are done according to parish, as one zone has in all Clarendon schools and the other all Manchester schools. Winners of each zone then compete in a knockout format to determine the county winner. The three county champions will then be joined by the Surrey runner-up for the national semi-finals from where the winners play for the championship. Teams and players vie for and are awarded with trophies and medals for performances in the categories of county champions; batsmen scoring centuries; batsmen scoring half-centuries; bowlers taking five or more wickets in a match; player of the finals; runners-up and champion.

Last year's overall champions were Lannaman's Prep of St James, while county champions were Lannaman's Prep, St James Prep, and Mount St Joseph Prep, Surrey, Cornwall and Middlesex, respectively.

The competition is open to children under 13 years.

• Wray & Nephew skittles May 13

The start of the 2012 Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum skittles competition will start on Sunday, May 13.

The competition has attracted 12 teams - six in the Premier League by virtue of their ranking, and six in the Major League.

Defending champions Eagles is one of the teams being affected by venue problems. It is understood that the Eagles team, which is housed at Bejon's Sport Bar, Hughenden Plaza, will have to find temporary quarters, as Bejon's is unavailable due to refurbishing.

The same is true of former champions Eastern All-Stars, whose venue in East Kingston (Windward Road) has changed owners.

Meanwhile, Eagles, one of the top six seeded or elite teams, will play in the Premier League alongside Eastern, Starliner, Rowe's Strikers, Waltham Strikers and Mister C from Spanish Town.

The Major League, comprising the lower-ranked teams, has Dragon, Olympic Strikers, Mystix Strikers, Willies Strikers, The Dip from Portmore, and the lone female team, Mystix Lady Strikers.

The Wray & Nephew competition is one of two major competitions run annually by the Jamaica Skittles Federation for which Sam Allen is president. The other, the Pattex Cup competition, ended in February with Eagles as champions.

• BH cricket season starts tomorrow

Weather permitting, the Reggae Jammin Business House 50-over cricket competition commences tomorrow with 11 participating teams, including defending champions National Housing Trust (NHT).

Four matches are scheduled for the opening round, while three teams have drawn byes for this round. There are two new teams - Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) and JNBS, while Continental Bakery did not enter this year.

The matches on are Digicel vs LIME at Kensington Park, Jamalco vs BOJ at Jamalco, Red Stripe vs JNBS at Red Stripe Oval, Spanish Town Road, and former champions Jamaica Broilers vs JUTC at Spring Village. All matches start at 10 a.m.

In this their 75th season, the Business House Cricket Board will also facilitate the Best Dressed Chicken 30-over KO competition. Both competitions are sponsored by Jamaica Broilers.

• Meadows favoured for Confed final

Last year's beaten finalists, Meadows FC of St Catherine, are favoured to book a place in the final of the South Central Confed Super League football competition, when they host New Green in a second-leg semi-final slated for the Homestead community playing field.

Meadows achieved an important advantage on Thursday at Kirkvine in Manchester, courtesy of a 68th-minute goal from their top striker, Ross Burton, that gave them a 1-0 victory.

Defending champions Rivoli United will host parishmates Newlands in the second semi-final, slated for Spanish Town Prison Oval. The two met at the same venue on Wednesday, with visitors Newlands scoring early and Rivoli scoring in the final minute to earn a 1-1 draw. That game was deemed Rivoli's home game and, with the away rule in effect, Newlands could advance if the game ends 0-0.

• Kendal, Mile Gully clash in Manchester final

Kendal and Mile Gully will clash in The Captain's Bakery & Grill-sponsored Manchester Major League final tomorrow at Kirkvine Sports Club.

The matchup is a repeat of the mid-season final, which saw Kendal brushing aside the youthful Mile Gully aggregation 3-0. Kendal have held the upper hand in games between the two all season, winning their first preliminary round game, while the other ended in a draw.

Despite losing the mid-season final, Mile Gully finished the preliminary round on top by four points. At stake tomorrow is a chance to earn $200,000 and the League trophy and, importantly, automatic qualification to the next tier of football - South Central Confed Super League.

Both teams came through tough semi-finals. Kendal triumphed 4-3 on penalties over Porus after both teams had battled to a 0-0 draw after regulation and extra time. Mile Gully scored three times in extra time to outlast Hillstars after the two had earned second-half strikes to end the game 1-1 after regulation time.

• Four Paths still on top in Clarendon

With two rounds to go, Four Paths have found themselves in the unfamiliar position of challenging for championship honours in The Captain's Bakery & Grill-sponsored Clarendon Major League football competition.

At the start of the season, the names of Jamalco, New Bowens and Milk River were the ones being bandied around as likely winners. All three have been upstaged, with Milk River out of contention in sixth place and Jamalco and New Bowens locked in second place on 34 points.

Jamalco and New Bowens, who changed places at the top for 14 rounds, were both beaten by York Town, a team fighting to stave off relegation.

Jamalco even squandered the chance to draw level on points with Four Paths last weekend, as they could only muster a 0-0 draw in a game they hosted at Wembley Stadium.

The highlight of the week, however, was a hat-trick by Ludane Learmond, as Milk River made their position safe in the league with a 3-2 win over Gimme-Me-Bit, who are now in trouble, as they sit one place from the bottom.

• Henriques top MRPC monthly match

Fresh from recording outstanding performances at the Area Six US State Championships in Florida last week, the pair of Orville and Sue Ann Henriques won the local Manchester Rifle and Pistol Club (MRPC) latest monthly match series at the Lincoln Range.

Henriques, who topped all Jamaican international performers with his fifth-place finish in the marquee Limited section, finished top and Sue Ann second.

Henriques won just two of the stages, the first and the sixth, but he was most consistent, landing second-place finishes on the second, fourth and fifth stages. He was a distant fourth, by his standards, on the third. Sue Ann won stage two, but was second on three stages.

Thomas Jones, who participated in the Florida Open in January, copped third with a percentage of 87.7, earning bragging rights by winning stages three and four. R. Mendez (76 per cent) and D. McMorris (72 per cent) rounded off the top five places.

• LIME/INSPORTS Clarendon Primary League

The qualifiers to the second round from seven of the eight preliminary zones in the Clarendon leg of the LIME/INSPORTS Primary School football league have been determined.

Watsonton and defending champions Race Course Primary have qualified from Zone 1, with Chandlers Pen and Hayes from Zone 2.

May Pen Primary and Denbigh have secured their passage from Zone 3, while Mineral Heights and Toll Gate have done similarly from Zone 4. Zone 5 is yet to be decided where four teams - Chapelton, Trout Hall, Beulah and Crooked River - still have a chance.

Thompson Town and Mount Liberty are the qualifiers from Zone 6, while Zone 7 is sewn up with Morgan's Pass and Brandon Hill. Spalding and Sanguinetti are the representatives from Zone 8.

In action this past week, Beulah secured two victories - Kenroy Thomas' hat-trick taking them to a 3-2 win over Trout Hall, before defeating Chapelton 2-0.

The highlight of the week was Mount Liberty's 5-0 swamping of Mocho, where Kimani McIntyre scored four times. McIntyre is the league's leading goalscorer with 12 goals.

• 40 schools confirmed for U-13 track meet

Forty schools, including primary and preparatory institutions from the parishes of St Catherine and Kingston and St Andrew, will descend on the G.C. Foster College in Angels, St Catherine, for the 11th staging of the St Catherine U-13 Invitational Track Meet. The meet begins at 9 a.m. Athletes will compete in traditional races, such as the 60m, 100m, 150m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 70m hurdles, high jump, long jump and relays.

Meet director Errol Mathias said he expects a top-class meet, as some of Jamaica's budding young stars will be on show. Two of the brighter stars on show will be Ewarton Primary's Christopher Taylor, who clocked 25.6 seconds and 56.1 over 200m and 400m, respectively, this season. He is the record holder for the Class Two boys 300m with 41.81 seconds at Primary Champs. Ascot Primary's 400m specialist, Kadez Sutherland, who ran 57 seconds recently at the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) St Catherine District Association meet at G.C. Foster ,is another athlete to watch.

More than 3,500 athletes are expected to compete. The meet is a build-up to the INSPORTS/JTA Primary Athletics Championships slated for May 9-12 at the National Stadium.

• Portsmouth score first win

Defending Portmore champions Portsmouth defeated Bridgeport 2-1 to score their first win in Group One in the Portmore leg of the Institute of Sports (INSPORTS)/ LIME All-Island Primary Football Competition at the Portsmouth Primary playing field last Tuesday.

Greater Portmore scored a close 3-2 victory over Port Henderson, a team that shocked Portsmouth 3-0 a couple of months ago. Meanwhile, Gregory Park jumped to the top of Group Two after they scored a hard fought 2-0 win over Independence City. Demar Francis (third minute) and Miguel Pickersgill (56th) scored Gregory Park's goals, which gave the school maximum six points from two games. Despite the loss, Independence City stayed second on three points, while Ascot and Southborough come next with a point each as they drew 0-0 at the same venue.

Waterford are at the bottom without a point from one game.The competition continues on Monday.

• Flamingo, Rodwood advance to final

Flamingo and Rodwood advanced to their respective Division One and Major League final, after second-leg encounters at the Spanish Town Prison Oval last Saturday. Flamingo drew 2-2 with Albion in extra time, to advance 4-3 on aggregate. Kayron Buckam (48th) and Romaine Morris (75th) gave Albion a 2-0 lead in the match and 2-1 edge on aggregate. But Delano Williams hit back in the 84th minute to force extra time, as the contest was level 2-2 on aggregate. This set up Nigel Morrison's winner eight minutes into the bonus period.

In the Major League clash, dependable striker Mark Walters scored in the 65th minute as Rodwood clipped DB Basovak 1-0 and advanced to the final 2-1 on aggregate.

Flamingo will play against Old Harbour Bay in this afternoon's Division One final at the Spanish Town Prison Oval, match time 2 p.m., while the Major League final is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the same venue.

• Uphill task for Eradication in domino QF

Eradication face a tough opponent in leaders and favourites Fort International, in one of four quarter-final games in the Impulse-sponsored Portmore/St Catherine Domino League match at Caymanas Track on Sunday, May 6.

Fort International are expected to win this match, but Eradication may have other ideas. In other games, second-seed Ackee Pod face seventh-seed Colours Sports Club, third-seed Caribbean Classic - the defending champions - square off with sixth-seed Island Special Constabulary Force, while fourth-seed Right Stuff challenge an improved fifth-seed Passagefort United. All games commence at 11 a.m.

• Ken's Wildflower Community Sports Club's 10th anniversary

This year's annual general meeting for Ken's Wildflower Community Sports Club, scheduled for this Sunday at Ken's Wildflower Lounge, will be a special one as the club celebrates its 10th anniversary.

They currently participate in chess, domino, netball and cricket.

Cricket has been the club's most successful venture as they have won both the senior and junior (Under-15) titles in the Portmore Metropolitan Cricket League.

Businessman Lester 'Ken' Crooks said he is "very dedicated in the development of Portmore through sports".

In the past, he has used his personal funds to start the league when sponsorship money was late, and still plays an integral part in the development of sports in Portmore.

• Hellshire, Westchester showdown

Hellshire United and Westchester will face off tomorrow in the final of the LIME Portmore Division Two Football League at Ferdie Neita Park in Braeton. Match time is 3 p.m. The match was rescheduled from last Sunday because of a waterlogged field.

Westchester, who are the mid-season champions, hold the edge in head-to-head confrontations with Hellshire this season, as they won their first meeting 2-0, while the second match ended in a draw. Hellshire got past East Portmore Portals 2-1 on aggregate in their semi-final encounter, while Westchester defeated Westport 3-1 on aggregate.

Hellshire will depend heavily and strikers Rohan Grant and Rohan Cato for goals, while Westchester's main hopes lie with their two goal poachers, Lusheng Davis and Orlando Bryan.

CAPTION: Young cricketers (from left) Sachin Simms of Hydel Prep, Johanna Silvera of Meadowbrook Prep, and Tyrell Johnson of Portmore Missionary Prep are happy to receive the sponsorship cheque of $3m from Scotiabank towards the staging of the 2012 Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA)/Scotiabank Prep Schools Cricket competition, during the launch at Police Sports Complex at Elletson Road on Tuesday. The series, which also started on Tuesday, will continue through to June. A total of 133 matches will be staged across the island among 45 schools. Partnering the kids in presentation are Monique Todd (second left), vice-president, marketing, public relations and corporate affairs, Scotiabank, Tamar Lambert (third right), captain of Jamaica's senior cricket team, and Lyndel Wright, JCA president.- Contributed