Elliott, Williams put Melbourne through

Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

A combination of rain and solid displays by batting all-rounder Yannick Elliott and batsman Dean Williams on the weekend guided Melbourne to first-innings points and into the semi-finals of the two-day Jamaica Cricket Association Super Cup.

The semi-finals, which will see winners of the four preliminary round groups squaring off, in addition to the men from Courtney Walsh Drive, will be contested by defending champions, Manchester, along with early qualifiers St Ann and Westmoreland, who also qualified after the weekend's fifth and final set of matches.

Elliott, who has been in and out of the national senior team set-up but has this season proven that he is quite capable with both bat and ball, claimed four for 18, while Williams, who was a standout at the high-school level in the mid-2000s with Calabar, made 51, as Melbourne needing to claim at least first innings over Lucas to book their spot did so, a day before persistent rain brought a premature end to the fixture at Lucas.

Melbourne, who won the toss and elected to field, first bowled out Lucas for 89 with Elliott getting good support from West Indies spinner Nikita Miller, who bagged four for 28. Former national under-19 batsman Ramon Senior made 28.

Williams and Andre McCarthy 40 not out then led Melbourne to 136 for three before rain stopped play midway the first day. There was no play on yesterday's day two.

The result moved Melbourne to 22 points in Group D, seven more than Kensington, who needed to win outright to have a chance of qualifying, but saw their match-up against Boys' Town at Kensington Park ending in a no-result.

Batting first, Boys' Town were bowled out for 108, courtesy of a good spell of spin bowling from Haniff Palmer, who pocketed five for 40. Rain then prevented Kensington from making a reply.

The group's other game between out-of-contention Kingston and St Catherine at Sabina Park, was also curtailed by rain, with St Catherine 47 for three in response to Kingston's 198.

Tamar Lambert, six for 34, took most wickets for St Catherine. While batting for the home team Davian Johnson 39 made most runs.

In other results, Westmoreland qualified from Group A after scoring an emphatic innings and 21 runs over a hapless Trelawny at the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium, courtesy of impressive match figures of 13 for 44.

Dawes claimed seven for 15 in the first innings and six for 29 in the second, as Trelawny were dismissed for 22 and 60. Westmoreland in their reply made 103 for five declared.

rain everywhere

Elsewhere, rain brought a premature end to all the fixtures.

At Alpart, St Elizabeth led by Linton Buchanan, who snared four for 25, and Darren Powell, 57, claimed first innings points over Hanover. Scores: Hanover 118 (Buchanan 4-25, Howard Powell 3-14) and 55-1 (Kennar Lewis 40). St Elizabeth 187-7 declared (Powell 57; Kennar Lewis 2-29).

At GC Foster, Dwight Stewart claimed six for 53 as Manchester had to settle to a no-result outcome with the home team.Manchester 116 (Damion Bryce 32; Dwight Stewart 6-53), GC Foster 49-4 (Kino Paul Salesman 24; Donovan Sinclair 2-4).

At JAMALCO, Clarendon's Jai Paul Powell was 87 not out against Kingston and St Andrew before the rains came. Scores: Clarendon 255-6 (Powell 87, Barrington Brown 51; Ashan Plummer 3-79).

At Good Year Oval, the game between St Thomas and St Catherine CA was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

At St Ann Bauxite, Xavier Marshall scored 70 for St Ann against JDF in their no-result fixture. Scores: St Ann 172-6 (Marshal 70, Marlon Pinnock 35; Anthony Keppel 2-41).

At Folly Oval, the game between Portland and Police was abandoned without a ball being bowled.