Port St. Lucie squeeze by Palm Beach Titans while Tropics United defeat Ambassadors
At Girl Scout Friendship Park, under overcast skies, Skipper Paul Ramkissoon of Palm Beach Titans called right at the coin toss and elected to take first knock.
Play started on time at 11 a.m. and Charles ‘Tony’ Reid opened the bowling and got considerable swing movement that left the Titans reeling at 46 for 2 wickets after the first 15 overs.
The sun burst through the clouds at about 12:30 p.m. and one wondered if someone did turn on an oven at 500 degrees. However, through grit and determination, Sachith Konghakotuwage, played beautifully to carve out 37 runs to help his team amass 137 for 8 from their allotted 40 overs.
Don Sampson was the pick of the bowlers for Port St. Lucie, bagging 3 for 40 from his allotted 8 overs. Reid picked up 3 for 16 from his 8 overs.
Port St Lucie, chasing 138 for victory, was made to work hard to achieve the target which was realized in the 39th over with 4 wickets in hand. Roger Joshua top scored with 25 runs but much credit must be given to Kevin Fernando, who added 24 not out, and Aaron Badeau, 21, who weathered the scorching heat after seeing the backs of their two most experienced batters in Reid and skipper Richard Louis back in the hut with low individual scores.
Tanmay Kadam was the pick of the bowlers for Titans with 2 for 15 from 8 overs. Errol Rattigan troubled all the batters who faced him but was unable to bring home the bacon for Titans as Port St Lucie won by 4 wickets.
Tropics United Defeat Ambassadors
At Maq Ground, Ambassadors, playing two men short, lost the toss and was asked to bat first. They were bowled out for 83 runs even as Halden Martin added 22 and Cornel Peart, 11. They were the only batsmen to get into double figures.
Bowling for Tropics United, Oswin Howard bagged 5 for 24 from 8 overs and Oliver Taffe 3 for 18 from 5 overs.
In reply, Tropics United was 33 for 2 when rain intervened in the 8th over. The rain stopped and play resumed but Tropics was given a revised target of 73 runs from 31 overs which they easily achieved, losing 6 wickets in 17.3 overs.
Philerm Davis topped the batting with 16 runs while Romario Forbes added 13 and St Christopher Brown, 10. The top wicket takers for Ambassadors were Cornel White, 4 for 19 from 7 of his allotted 8 overs and Fredrick Redwood, 2 for 7 from 5 over.
Tropics won by 4 wickets via the Duckworth/Lewis/Stern method
The semi-final teams are the undefeated Lauderhill Jammers, who topped the table with 47 points. St. Bess is at 39; Port St Lucie 37 and Tropics United, 22.
The date and venue for the semis- was unknown at press time.
