Gayle blow away Fairfield to secure semi spot

St. Mary's Gayle Cricket Club secured the fourth and final semi-final spot in the SDC/Wray & Nephew National Community T20 Competition, following a 29-run win over Fairfield United of Manchester in play-off action on Sunday.

With the French Park ground being the home turf for Fairfield United, many fans turned out to witness their parish team possibly getting into the final four, however, it was the St Mary team who were showing early confidence, after winning the toss and taking the first strike.

The competitions leading run-scorer Anthony Walters continued in his rich vein of form, stroking a couple of early boundaries to push the score to 35 before Gayle lost their first wicket, that of fellow opener Oshain Ennis for two.

Things would get better for the home team Fairfield, as Chavez Williams picked up the wicket of number three batsman Brian Robinson for three as Gayle was pegged back somewhat at 67 for 2 in the 11th over.

Meanwhile, Walters, who has scored three centuries in this year's competition, continued to bat confidently at the other end as he and Allando Robinson put on 41 runs for the third wicket to push the St Mary team score past the hundred mark.

In the end, Walters would finish with a top score of 64 from 57 balls which included five fours and four sixes, while Robinson weighed in with 42 runs from 23 balls with two fours and four sixes as Gayle CC ended on 146 for 3 in their allotted 20 overs.

Stumps shattered

With the home crowd behind them, Fairfield began their reply cautiously, putting on 28 runs in the first five overs before Rasheed Raymond became the first of three wickets for Jevaughn Hinds for seven.

Twenty-eight for one quickly became 33 for 2 as Sherdon Allen had his stumps shattered by Hinds for a duck to leave the Manchester side in early trouble.

The consistent bowling from the Gayle team brought constant pressure on the Fairfield team as they lost wickets at regular intervals to put a halt on their run chase.

In the end, they could only muster 117 all out in 19.3 overs despite a valiant 48 from 46 balls from opener Bryan Clarke. Only two other batters got into double figures as Hinds finished with 3 for 25 from his four overs, while Jevaughn Hall bagged 3 for 29 from his allotted four overs.

Winning captain Sheldon Pryce was over the moon as once again his bowling unit came up trumps when it mattered most.

"We have been bowling well all season and I know once we got anywhere near a respectable total, we would defend it. We are into the semi-finals now and I know it is going to take an all-round team effort to win, but I am confident that we can go all the way."

The semi-final matchups will see Orange Hill of Westmorland taking on White River of St Ann, while Gayle of St Mary will square off with Johnson Mountain out of St Thomas.