UTech Cricket Classic bowls off today
JABBAR Niles, returning captain of the UWI Cave Hill team, has vowed to strenuously defend his team’s title when the second staging of the UTech Cricket Classic gets underway today with a double header at the UTech cricket field.
The feature match will see UWI Cave Hill battle host UTech Knights at 1:30 pm in 20/20 competition. The UTech Knights will be led by Lionel Morant of Kingston Cricket Club and Kingston College, as last year’s captain Brian Latore will miss the first match.
Ambassador Courtney Walsh, former Jamaica and West Indies Test player, will declare the competition open at the 1:00 pm scheduled opening ceremony, which will be held on the boundary of the UTech cricket field. He will also bowl the first ball.
UWI Cave Hill and Southampton Solent University are the two overseas-based teams in the six-team cricket classic. Southampton Solent University will face GC Foster college in the first match of the classic at 9:30 at the same venue.
Mico University, UWI Mona, GC Foster College, Southampton Solent University, UTech Knights and UWI Cave Hill make up the six teams. Four of the teams are from Jamaica, while the other two hail from Barbados and England.
The competition will run from today through to Sunday at UTech with all teams wearing coloured clothing.
The competition will be played using the 20/20 format and will see two matches played daily with the first one at 9:30 am and the second at 1:30 pm. All matches, including the final on Sunday, will be played at the UTech Cricket Field.
The cricket classic is one of four in the series of sport classics to be staged by UTech. The other sports classics are track and field, golf and basketball.
The teams are competing for the Lyndel Wright Trophy. Lyndel Wright is a former national representative and is a graduate of UTech (while it was CAST), as well as a Distinguished Awardee of the university.
The sponsors of the second UTech Cricket Classic are Jamaica Observer (official print partner), Jamaica Cricket Association, Lucozade, CVM Television and Island Car Rentals.