Abacus overcame a stuttering start to defeat Division III Pentagon by 49 runs while Beeches came home by 36 runs against fellow Division I side Air Conditioning Jersey.The semis, to be played on Thursday 3 July, are Abacus v Centurions at Grainville and Beeches v St Helier RFC at FB1.
Both games start at 6.15 pm.Last night Abacus won the toss and batting first they made a bad start, losing two wickets in the first four balls.
After three overs they only had seven runs on the scoreboard after two tidy overs from Wayne Summers, one a wicket-maiden, and one from Alex Luce.However, once Johan Jooste and Myles West settled in they opened up with Jooste striking eleven 4s and one 6, to score 73.
West finished undefeated on 74 after striking six boundaries and two sixes.Abacus closed their 15 overs on 164 from 3 and it was a total out of the reach of Pentagon, who were always behind the required run-rate as they were all out for 115 in 14.2 overs.Only ‘Baz’ Parsons, who struck three 6s, got going for Pentagon to top-score with 36.
Richard Robinson and Richard Parker each took three wickets for the victors with Jooste also pitching in with a couple.Beeches, runners-up last season, and Air Conditioning Jersey featured in a high-scoring game that resulted in 322 runs being scored.
Three players hit half centuries with Beeches openers Dave Morfee (50) and Josh Hackland (86) putting on 134 for the first wicket in just under nine overs.Morfee’s 50 included three 4s while Hackland struck ten 4s and three 6s as Beeches closed on 179 for 6.Air Conditioning were game in their reply and despite James Mashiter top-scoring with 61 they eventually fell behind the asking rate to finish on 143 for 7.
Morfee’s three overs were expensive with 40 runs conceded but he did have the consolation of snapping up four wickets.
