Barbados Cricket Association article.
Bridgetown, Barbados - Set up by a splendid knock of 75 from West Indies Under-19 team batsman Jonathan Drakes, Combermere Old Scholars defeated Lodge Old Scholars by ten runs in the first quarter-final of the sixth annual Foundation School Joel Garner Twenty20 tapeball competition at Briar Hall on Monday night.
Drakes, who returned home at the weekend from the ICC Under-19 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, proved a most fitting replacement for appointed captain Jomel Warrican, who won the Baron's Smokehouse Player-of-the-Match in all three of his team's preliminary matches but is now involved with the regional first-class championship for Combined Campuses & Colleges.
Playing in his first match, Drakes impressed all and sundry with a wide array of strokes following the dismissal of stand-in captain Shayne Moseley without a run scored in only the second ball of the match after Combermere had won the toss.
Drakes and Kamal Sealy, who made 29, aded 60 in 7.1 overs for the second wicket to set the stage for a total of 158 for eight off 20 overs.
The 19-year-old Drakes, who went to the crease at No. 3, reached his half-century off 42 balls with three sixes and two fours and all told faced 56 deliveries, smashing six sixes and two fours before he was eighth out with the score 154 in the final out. He duly won the Baron's Smokehouse $100 Player-of-the-Match prize.
Drakes also kept wicket in place of Chaim Holder, who was forced to retire hurt while batting following a collision with the Lodge captain Diego Stuart just after completing a single. A visit to the doctor and x-rays revealed that Holder, a former Barbados Under-19 team-mate of Drakes, sustained a fractured left collar bone.
Former Barbados fast bowler Corey Edwards was the leading wicket-taker for Lodge with four for 17 off three overs after surprisingly coming on as late as the sixth and last bowler, while pacer Stuart picked up two for 38 off four overs.
Lodge reached 64 for three at the halfway stage and then tried desperately to lift the mounting asking rate before they were restricted to 148 for six.
Stuart topscored with an unbeaten 49 at No. 6, hitting four fours and one six, while Renaldo Holder made 28 before he was run out.
Medium-pacer Devon Goodman took two for 29 off four overs.
This is the fourth year that both teams are taking part in the popular tournament and it was the second time Combermere had beaten Lodge at the same stage, having triumphed by 61 runs at Dover in 2012 before losing in the semi-finals to St. Leonard's Old Scholars.
Neither Combermere nor Lodge have ever reached the final.
The second quarter-final brings together title holders Foundation 'A' Old Scholars and the 2012 champions Deighton Griffith Old Scholars, again at Briar Hall, on Thursday, March 6, at 7 p.m.
The remaining quarter-finals are slated for Friday, March 7, at Dover. RG Plumbing Coleridge & Parry Old Scholars, the 2011 champions, oppose Foundation School at 6.30 p.m., and Foundation 'B' Old Scholars clash with Alleyne Alumni, the 2011 and 2013 runners-up at 9.30 p.m.
The semi-finals (March 21) and final (March 28), as is customary, will be played at Foundation School, Church Hill
Summarised scores of Monday's first quarter-final:
Combermere Old Scholars beat Lodge Old Scholars by ten runs.
Combermere Old Scholars 158-8 (20 overs) (Jonathan Drakes 75 - 56 balls, 6 sixes, 2 fours; Kamal Sealy 29, Pedro Greaves 18, Devon Goodman 12; Corey Edwards 4-17, Diego Stuart 2-38).
Lodge Old Scholars 148-6 (20 overs) (Diego Stuart 49 not out, Renaldo Holder 28, Mario Rampersaud 14, Chad Puckerin 12; Devon Goodman 2-29).
Toss: Combermere Old Scholars.
Baron's Smokehouse $100 Player-of-the-Match: Jonathan Drakes.
Umpires: Clyde Alleyne, Lawson Cummins.
Scorers: Shakira Adams & Shanique Adams (twins).