By Anthony Foster, Staff ReporterLED BY brilliant centuries from Kirk Gordon and Junior Stewart, St. Catherine Parish yesterday booked their spot in the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) Senior League final with first innings honours over Police at Port Esquivel.
In the final set for July 17-18, St. Catherine will meet St. Mary, who defeated St. James on first innings at Jarrett Park, thanks to Dervin Morand (64), Ainsley Wilshaw (5-18) and Ian McLeod (4-31).
Final scores in the rain affected match were: St. Mary 176; St. James 129. Evroy Dyer (2-39), Kenroy Haughton (2-27) and Vinroy Crooks (2-15) took most wickets for St. James.
At Port Esquivel final scores in the two-day contest that started late on the opening day because of a waterlogged field Police 161; St. Catherine 313 for five.
241-RUN PARTNERSHIP
In a 241-run fourth-wicket partnership, which saw Gordon and Stewart dominating and dictating the pace, St. Catherine's march back to the Super Cup was on the wall although they lost three quick wickets.
Gregory Buchanan (three) and Marlon Willias (zero) departed early. After the fall of former Jamaican batsman Howard Harris' at 28 for three, Gordon and Stewart took charge.
Harris demonstrated his big hitting skills and in his eight-ball stay, the former St. Ann player struck two sixes and a four in one over off Floyd Powell but soon fell to Rohan Belight (2-27) for 19.
Gordon and Stewart, a former national youth player, started out by frustrating the bowlers with their quick singles. Helped by bad fielding and dropped catches, the batsmen were given time to settle.
EASY GOING
From there it was easy going for St. Catherine as the batsmen continued to demonstrate discipline and patience in their approach. However, when Stewart reached his century and tried to push things on, going for a single to long-off, he was undone by a direct hit. In his knock of 112, Stewart faced 103 balls and hit 10 fours.
Stewart looked tired in the latter stages of his innings but Gordon carried on to 155, before providing Demetrius Francis with an easy catch off Powell (2-31). His knock featured nine sixes and eight fours from 226 balls.
Soon after Gordon's dismissal, the teams called off the match with 11 of the 15 mandatory overs to be bowled.
Earlier, a magnificent,unbeaten 74 from Deancourt Wright lifted Police to their total after they had made a shaky start falling at 129 for eight.
Wright cracked five sixes and three fours in his 116-ball knock and shared in two important lower-order partnerships. Lloyd Rattray (3-27), Colin Buchanan (3-35) and Brenton Beckford (3-39) took most wickets for St. Catherine.
