Victory for the Saints would have secured them the Division II title to add to the JEP Brighter Cricket and S E Guy Memorial Trophy silverware already won but a dramatic loss to Jersey Academicals means JUBRFC and Centurions both finish above them – and those two will now contest the title in a play-off early next week.It has been one of the closest run-ins to a Division II title race for many years and St Helier just missed out as the Accies won with two balls to spare at FB1.Academicals’ Steve Landick said: ‘It was a good game and it turned in our favour in one over when we got 21 runs off it.
Jim Walls and Paul Dicker both hit sixes in it and Jim went on play solidly to steer us to victory in the final over.’Walls hit three 4s and a 6 for his unbeaten 33 while earlier Derek de la Haye’s contribution of 35 included four boundaries.Steve Dewhurst took four wickets for 32 runs in his three-over spell for the winners.
At one time he was on a hat-trick while he also had a couple of catches dropped.Centurions and JUBRFC will contest the play-off after they both won, Centurions by 14 runs against Securicor and JUBRFC by 11 runs against HSBC.
All three matches were played at the FB Fields resulting in an interesting evening for the players and spectators.Centurions batted first in their match and any thoughts of victory must have gone early as they stumbled to seven for five wickets early on.
The damage was done by Alan Blampied who took four wickets for 12 runs in his three overs while Blackburn removed the dangerous Haydn Druce.Securicor were in total charge as Centurions struggled to 38 half-way through their innings, however with Matt Smith (20) leading a recovery, Craig Morrison once again playing a vital role scoring an unbeaten 25 and a handy contribution of 21 extras Centurions closed their innings on 87 for 8.Centurions skipper Joel Richardson then led by example and steaming in he conceded just five runs for one wicket in three overs, two of them maidens resulting in Securicor getting off to a slow reply.Richardson’s performance set the scene for a tremendous fight back and further accurate bowling and fielding all round restricted the Securicor batsmen to just 73 runs in reply.JUBRFC recorded a good but reachable total of 121 for 4 against HSBC.Cameron Walker (31) and Jamie Mackintosh (45) repaired early damage to put on a half-century stand for the third wicket.
Their running between the wickets was good with Walker hitting five boundaries and Mackintosh seven 4s and a 6.Despite conceding 32 extras JUBRFC bowled reasonably tidily to restrict HSBC to 110 for 5 wickets and secure their place in next week’s play-off.
