Anthony Foster, Freelance WriterAS THE fight intensifies for the 2007 Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) Super Cup title, Melbourne beat Lucas inside the boardroom on Tuesday to close the gap on leaders St. Elizabeth.
The entire first day's play of the Lucas versus Melbourne clash at Nelson Oval was not played because of an underprepared pitch.
In a JCA release, Lucas were found guilty of breaching the JCA Ground Requirements Guideline No. 4 for their failure to properly cover the pitch, resulting in the loss of play on day one.
Now, in what looks to be a three-horse race, inconsistent St. Elizabeth lead with 23 points, three more than joint second-place teams Manchester and Melbourne.
Kingston have 16 while St. Catherine CC, Jamaica Defence Force and Westmoreland have 13 each. Trelawny with seven, Kensington six and Lucas, who dropped to five after the JCA's ruling, are fighting to avoid relegation.
Meanwhile, the semi-finals and final have now been scrapped due to financial constraints.
Brian Breese, chief operations officer at the JCA, confirmed that "there are no semi-finals. It's a straight league".
"It was decided on after the fixtures were made up," Breese said.
"It's due to financial constraints because there is no sponsorships and the board would have to foot the bill," he said.
Though it has the backing of Red Stripe, the nation's secondary league - the Red Stripe Championship, will also be played league format.
Clarendon were the hardest hit when the JCA Competitions and Complaints Committee met on Tuesday to hand down its findings.
Clarendon were fined $5,000 and lost the one point they earned from their game against St. Ann on May 26-27 for breaching the Ground Requirement Guideline No. 3.
"The Clarendon team used the Garvey Maceo School grounds for the match as neither their named (Jamalco) no (Monymusk) grounds was available. Under such circumstances, the match must then be played at the opponent's home ground," the JCA release stated.
Again, against Portland on June 2-3, "the Portland team was awarded full points for the game. The Clarendon team arrived after tea on day one of the game. This action breached Punctuality Rule IV and Clarendon were deemed to have forfeited the match," the release added.
Meanwhile, the Police team was fined $5,000 for breaching the Punctuality Rule. Police arrived five minutes late on day two of the game against St. Mary on May 26 - 27.
St. Ann, with 26 points, look safe for this year's championship title, but unlike previous years, no team will be advanced to the Super League this season. Hanover (18), Police and Portland (15 each) round out the top four.