Melbourne, St Catherine clash in Senior Cup semis

Title-favourites Melbourne and St Catherine CC will lock horns in the feature match-up of the Jamaica Cricket Association Senior Cup semi-finals at Chedwin Park, starting today.

Melbourne who will be hunting their third straight appearance in the final are set to be bolstered by the return of West Indies one-day spinner Nikita Miller. They will also look to a number of Jamaica Scorpions players to lead their batting. This includes Trevon Griffiths, Jon-Ross Campbell and Steven Taylor, and wicketkeeper Aldaine Thomas.

Their bowling, in addition to Miller, is set to include fast bowler Oshane Thomas, and spinners Damion Jacobs and Chris Lamont.

"Last season we lost in the final to the Jamaica Defence Force, and the aim is to return and turn and around things," said Melbourne coach, Andrew Richardson.

"We will be without Andre McCarthy, who lost his father recently, but everyone else is ready and raring to go."

St Catherine are set to parade Pete Salmon, who scored a century in their semi-final win over Kensington, Oraine Williams, all-rounder Gavin Wallace and opener Kennar Lewis.

Experienced leg-spinner Odean Brown is expected to lead their bowling.

Meanwhile, the second semi-final will see Manchester and UWI squaring off at Manchester High.

The UWI, with West Indies representatives Chadwick Walton and Rovman Powell, will start as favourites.

However, Manchester with national players, batsman Zeniffe Fowler and spinner Jamie Merchant, and former national youth players David Powell, Brad Barnes and Tristan Coleman, are likely to make the contest intriguing.

"It should be a competitive game," expressed Manchester coach Barry Barnes.

"UWI have some experienced players at the international level, but our team has been performing fairly well this season."