STETHS in charge in Headley Cup final

Andre McCarthy’s four-wicket haul left defending champions St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) in a commanding position against Manchester High School at stumps on the first day of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Headley Cup final at STETHS Sports Complex.

Winning the toss and electing to bat, STETHS were bowled out for 187, with Lennox Simpson (55 runs) and Roberta Simpson (32) doing most damage with the bat against seamer Andre Morgan (4 - 29) and left-arm orthodox Jaheem Bartley (4 - 62).

In reply, Manchester reached 70 for the loss of six wickets when rain forced an early call to stumps.

Topscorer Andre Morgan (32 not out) and Wavel Anniford (8 not out) will resume the innings today for Manchester. Former national under-19 pace bowling all-rounder Andre McCarthy was the main destroyer for STETHS, grabbing four wickets for just four runs from his six overs so far.

Despite being disappointed with the application of his batsmen yesterday, Barry Barnes, coach of Manchester, remains optimistic that they can end STETHS’ five years winning streak.

Didn’t apply ourselves enough’

“Today, I think we didn’t apply ourselves enough, but such is the nature of the game. I think that if we can bat out the first hour tomorrow, it will be a different ball game. We just want to try our best to get as close as possible to the total and see what happens because there is a lot of cricket left in the game,” Barnes said.

“Yeah, I think they (bowlers) did excellent although I still think we gave away about 30 runs extra. I’m not taking anything from the bowlers, who did extremely well. It’s just the batters who let us down at this stage.

However, we are still optimistic that we can get it right for the win tomorrow (today),” he added.