By Anthony Foster, Freelance WriterTHE BATTLE for the rights to be called George and Brandy A League schoolboy cricket champions bowls off today at Melbourne Oval between Norman Manley and Ardenne, starting at 10:00 a.m.
Based on the performance of both teams to date - and with a few of the Norman Manley players representing Melbourne - they will have home advantage and may just pull this one off. Ardenne, however, may find the ammunition to rise to the occasion and could well do so.
After dropping four points in two drawn matches, Norman Manley did not have any problems reaching the final. They picked up four victories and if it wasn't for rain they would have beaten Tarrant.
"I expect to go all out tomorrow (today)," Carl Stethens said. "Once we get a hard pitch we are going to bat first, if we win the toss.
"We will also make sure we use up the entire 95 overs. In that case we are looking to score over 300 runs," the coach explained.
Norman Manley, who won the all-island Under-16 Colts title two years ago, are in good hands where batting is concerned. Yanick Elliott, a former Jamaica Under-15 player, along present player Marvin Loban have both scored more than 250 runs this season.
They should be well supported by Omar Allison, who scored an unbeaten 103 last week, captain Dave Johnson, hard-hitting Damaine Wilson and Jason Hutton.
The Norman Manley coach said he has only identified two good batsmen on the Ardenne team, one of which he said was national youth player Simon Jackson.
"They also have two good spinners," he said. "However, we are not afraid of anyone. Our job is to go out there and make lots of runs and not only that, but anything we make, the second task is to defend it," Stethens added.
Despite suffering from a lack of fast bowlers, Norman Manley spinners Andre Haye, Andre Dixon (15 wickets this season), Elliott and Allison are top-class bowlers with back-up from medium pacer Johnson.
However, the Simon Jackson-led Ardenne are no pushovers and with Jamaica skipper Robert Samuels behind their preparation, Norman Manley may be in for some surprises.
Despite not appearing to be as strong as their opponents on paper, Ardenne will be hoping Orville Williams, skipper Jackson, Akeim Brooks, Theodore Marshall and Javasica Hemming will make inroads with the ball.
