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Excelsior capture third title with Spaulding Cup win
April 25, 2024
Coach Kirkland Bailey credits Excelsior High’s 185-run win in the ISSA All-Island Spaulding Cup at Melbourne Oval yesterday to their outstanding bowling in Manchester High’s first innings, which he believes set the stage for their easy victory.
After making 218 runs in their first innings, Excelsior routed Manchester for a paltry 71 in their reply. Bailey’s charges then racked up 255 in their second innings, then bowled out Manchester for 217.
It was Excelsior’s third successive title after winning the ISSA/GK Insurance Urban Area Sunlight Cup and the ISSA/GK Insurance Urban Area Twenty20. They can sweep all possible titles for the season, as they will go in quest of the ISSA/TVJ T20 title, which begins on Saturday.
According to Bailey, with the bulk of the damage done from Manchester’s first innings, he was confident they would have gotten the victory, with the pitch deteriorating.
“When we wrapped them up for 71 in their first innings, we sent the cats amongst the pigeons. We knew that if we batted for a session and a half, we would have gotten a total that would have been insurmountable and asking them to get a score over 400 on a surface that was proving tricky, we knew we would have won at the end of the day,” he stated.
Set a target of 403 runs, Manchester found themselves in problems on 55 for four but found solace when Pajay Nelson and Rhevon Morgan put on a 100-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
After Nelson was dismissed for 69 by captain Michael Clarke, Excelsior made light work of the lower order, eventually dismissing Manchester for 217, 15 minutes before the end of the second day’s play.
Clarke was the pick of the bowlers as he collected four wickets for 72 runs, while spinner Demarco Scott held his own and was equally impressive with figures of four for 50.
Manchester’s head coach, Barry Barnes, contends that with their main batters failing to get big scores, the task proved daunting, although he was proud of their overall performance.
“We knew the task would have been hard, but we were not going to lay down and play dead. We tried but, when you have your three main batters not scoring any meaningful runs, we knew it was going to be a hard task.
“Congratulations to Excelsior. I think they were the better team, but I’m also proud of my boys,” Barnes shared.
