Melbourne on top By Melton Williams, Staff Reporter THE national cricket champions Melbourne have taken a firm grip over Westmoreland in the Rothmans championship final and look set to lift the trophy after yesterday's first day of the two-day showdown at Melbourne Oval.
Melbourne, who were runners-up in the Surrey Senior Cup to Kingston CC, were bowled out for 241 and immediately put Westmoreland under pressure. The Cornwall champions faced a big task of getting 194 runs today with seven wickets standing. Going into today's final day which begins at 10:00 a.m., the score reads: Melbourne 241, Westmoreland 48 for three; Chris Miller (13) and Raul Wynter (3) are the not out batsmen. Two half centuries backed up by four good partnerships highlighted Melbourne's innings, and then later in the day spinner Dwayne Cooper (two for seven) and paceman Conroy Miller (one for 11) made the going rough for Westmoreland with three quick wickets. Spearheading the Derrymore Road-based team was an opening partnership of 83 between Aubrey Wollaston (52) and Dillon Ebanks (46) and a fifth wicket stand of 47 between captain Robert Samuels, who topscored with 61 and Colin Fletcher (27). Wollaston was the first to go, the hard-hitting opener bowled by spinner Cleveland Davidson on reaching his half century. He batted for 63 minutes during which he faced 43 balls and cracked 11 fours. His wicket was the first of two for Davidson, who send down 36 consecutive overs and during his marathon run he bowled for the entire session after lunch. Llewelyn Meggs then joined Dillion Ebanks but after the pair added 19 runs, Ebanks in sight of 50 played back to a delivery from medium pacer Clive Thomas and was leg before wicket for a patient 46 runs which included six boundaries. He batted for two hours and 24 minutes and faced 104 balls. Westmoreland played themselves into contention for the first time as Meggs (7) and Carlton Baugh (8) did not last long. At the lunch break, Melbourne were 149 for four with captain Robert Samuels on 21 and Colin Fletcher on zero. On the resumption, the pair of Davidson and Thomas put Samuels and Fletcher under pressure as the batsmen fail to push the score along. Samuels finally got on top of the bowling when he drove Thomas to the long on boundary to move to 28, his first aggressive shot after lunch and then he dispatched Davidson through the covers for four in the next over. That was the sign of what was ahead. Samuels went on the attack and when he was out trying to pull Davidson to the midwicket it was clear that Melbourne would found 250 hard to get. His innings lasted 282 minutes and included 10 boundaries off 199 balls. Thomas and Banton were the top bowlers for Westmoreland with three wickets each.
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