Excelsior look for sweep of cricket titles
Published:Sunday | April 21, 2024 | 12:11 AMOrane Buchanan - Staff Reporter
EXCELSIOR HIGH School are a win away from grabbing a famous schoolboy cricket treble and the achievement isn’t far from their thoughts.
Riding high on their massive 420-run victory against St Jago in the final of the ISSA First Global Bank Grace Shield Tournament, the Kirkland Bailey-coached Excelsior made it two from two on Friday as they steamrolled Kingston College by a margin of 181-run in the final of the ISSA GK Insurance Urban area T20 tournament. Their next assignment will be the All-Island Spaulding Cup final against Manchester on Wednesday.
Bailey is already looking forward to the possibilities.
“It’s an open secret that we’ve planned an assault on the titles on this year. We’ve, so far, collected two from four with two more to go. We take on Manchester next week in the Spaulding Cup final and we hope to get the better of them. However, it’s cricket and nothing is guaranteed. We will have to come out and deliver.
“We’re trying to get all four because with a team like this, with the talents that we have, we would want to maximise that and get as many trophies as possible,” Bailey explained.
Captain Michael Clarke is pleased with the way his troops have gone about business but is aware that winning all four titles requires an all-hands-on-deck approach.
“It’s been a very good run for the team and I’m proud of all the players, including myself, and their performance. Every player has contributed very well to help the team win two trophies so far and we’re looking to go for the next one come next week,” he said.
Clarke, who blasted 43 from just 16 deliveries against Kingston College in the T20 final on Friday, said that the team is strong with both bat and ball.
“I think our strength lies in both our batting and bowling. Once the team performs in the right way, we’ll be able to dominate any team that we go up against. I just want to improve on reading the situation of a game similarly to what I did in the T20 final. Based on the situation of that game, I had to go into counterattack mode and try to get the run rate up and help get a good score on the board,” he stated.
Wicketkeeper batsman David Dewar believes the season has been going well for the team and he’s optimistic that their form will continue for its remainder.
“I’m pleased but I need to spend more time at the crease and continue to stay focused whenever I’m keeping. I’m looking at winning the all-Island title as that would be my first title at that level. The team overall has been performing pretty well but I believe we can get better as we go along,” said Dewar.