By E. Glenford Prescott
The students of the St. Vincent Community College may be at this time undertaking remedial classes after doing extremely poorly under examination on the weekend in the National Lotteries Authority National T20 cricket competition on the weekend.
The students, who are sponsored by French Verandah, could have been pardoned for thinking that it was all about comfort and relaxation at the premises of those sponsors than at the Sion Hill and Arnos Vale Playing Field, where they took a caning on successive days, first against Carl Joseph Law Chambers ASCO on Saturday and then against Victors 1.
On Saturday, they earned themselves a U grade in the field by allowing their opponents to hit a record 259/4 then could only reach 60 to lose by a whopping 199 runs.
In that match, winning the toss and electing to bat, ASCO overcame the loss of two early wickets to pummel their hapless opponents into submission. But the students did not help their cause with a number of spilled chances and misfields that had manager Roxel John looking on in bemused embarrassment.
Shakily placed at 19/2, ASCO were then hauled out of trouble by Daron Greaves and Desron Maloney, the two regular openers, who, incidentally, had arrived late for the Saturday morning fixture.
Greaves, batting at number four, added 92 with Ronique LaBorde (35) to take the advantage away from the SVG Community College. He was then joined by Maloney with the total 111/3 and the pair mercilessly punished the truant bowlers in adding 142 for the fourth wicket.
Greaves, who was missed on 21, went on to score an unbeaten 101, which included 4 fours and 9 sixes, while Maloney, who was out off the penultimate ball of the innings for 89 struck 8 sixes and 3 fours in his innings. His last five scoring shots all cleared the fence.
The 259/4 was the highest team total in the competition’s history.
Tijoun Pope had the best figures of 2/44, but it was former U15 pacer Jeremy Layne with 4 overs for 25, who ran things on his block.
Set to score at 13 runs an over to win, the French Veranda SVG Community College players, went down like a “smoothie” in 11 overs with left-arm Spinner Andre Hunte 5/16 and Antonio Barker 3/15 doing the damage as 5 batsmen failed to get off their mark.
Darreo Glasgow, whose 2 overs had gone for 40 when bowling, got some pride back by hitting a topscore of 24.
On Sunday, the College students were once again taken to the cleaners by Victors 1, but despite suffering another heavy defeat, won many hearts and raised some pressure with their counter attacking reply.
Winning the toss and choosing to bat, Victors 1 looked past the early loss of Atticus Browne (1) to post a satisfying 192/3 on the back of a blistering century from the talented Donwell Hector and a half century from Miles Bascombe.
The two added 187 for the second wicket with Hector the more dominant partner. He made 105 before going by the runout route attempting to get on strike. He struck 10 sixes and 4 fours as he moved from the 50s to the century with an almost contemptuous six-hitting exhibition at Arnos Vale 2. His last 8 scoring shots included 5 sixes and a four.
Bascombe was unbeaten on 68 after reaching the half-century mark ahead of his partner. He counted 5 fours and 1 six.
Faced with another big chase, the Community College, aided by a flurry of wides and short deliveries set about the chase with gusto that had the Victors 1 management in a state of panic. But at 72/3 in the eighth over, they quickly fell away to subside for 98 in 11.4 overs to lose by 98 runs. Opener Jeremy Haywood using the cut and pull to great effect hit a topscore of 24 which included five fours. There were 23 Extras –including 5 wides.
Offspinner Atticus Browne finished with 4/17 and Norlan Williams 3/21.