Orange Hill book final-four spot

Orange Hill, out of Westmoreland, secured one of the semi-final spots in the SDC/Wray & Nephew National Community Cricket/T20 competition following a nail-biting seven-wicket win over Junction Ballards Valley from St Elizabeth.

The venue for the play-offs was the French Park Oval in Manchester as the perennial contenders locked horns to see who would join Johnson Mountain and White River in the final four.

It was Orange Hill who called correctly at the toss and decided to field first, and that decision looked to be the right one as opener Roman Davidson went lbw to Navado Williams for nought without a run on the board.

Opener Dave Dythe and number- three batsman Bryan Gayle then had to put together a mini recovery, taking the score to 43 before Dythe held off Ewan Anderson for 22.

Looking bleak

One run later, things got worse for the St Elizabeth side as Gayle was castled by Andrews for 16 to leave Junction Ballards Valley in a spot of bother at 44 for three.

When national Under-19 captain Andre McCarthy went lbw to Ryan Burnett for three at 60 for four in the 12th over, things were looking bleak for Junction Ballards Valley, however, captain Damion Ebanks and Christopher Dyer came to the party and ensured that the team had a fighting total to work with.

Ebanks clobbered four fours and six sixes in his innings of 78, while Dyer hit three fours and three sixes in his knock of 39 as Junction Ballards Valley posted a respectable 179 for six off their allotted 20 overs.

Orange Hill also began their run chase shakily as they lost in-form opening batsman Myron Gordon for one and Rassie Spence for a quickfire 20 at 22 for two.

But that would pretty much be all the success that Junction Ballards Valley would get as Aldaine Samuels and Ziggy Levy took the contest away.

The pair shared in a 135-run third-wicket partnership that saw Samuels hitting five sixes and two fours in a brilliant knock of 66 before he was out caught.

Ziggy Levy would eventually become the man of the moment as he hit the final run of the match in the final over. His unbeaten knock of 75 included six fours and four sixes as Orange Hill finished on 180 for three.