The JEP Brighter Cricket Cup Final takes place at Grainville tonight with deadly rivals Sporting Club and St Ouen battling it out for the coveted trophy.
The two met in a play-off for the NatWest Division I Evening League title last season, with St Ouen clinching victory on that occasion.
Sporting Club have been the kings of evening cricket in recent years, however, winning seven league titles since 1994 and team captain and former cricketer of the year, Matt Hague, is confident about tonight’s game.
‘We’re unbeaten this season in both the Evening and the Weekend League so I’m pretty confident,’ he said this morning.
‘I wouldn’t like to single anyone out because everyone’s been playing really well.
All the bowlers are in good form - Tony Carlyon, Nick Jewell, Mark Reynolds, Renni Maraj - all of them! ‘In fact, the whole team’s done great because we’ve also been batting well, so hopefully we can just continue our good form - but it’s a cup final and anything can happen in a cup final,’ he concluded.
Only St Ouen and Beeches have dented Sporting Club’s dominance of the Evening League, winning the title three times since 1999.
So, can St Ouen put another spanner in the works of what has been an incredible season so far for the Sporting Club? Said St Ouen’s highly-experienced player Ward Jenner: ‘We’re starting as slight underdogs, but one good performance from one good player could win the game - and we certainly have enough good players!’.
St Ouen’s captain, Dave Clark, added: ‘They gave us a good drubbing on Saturday in the Weekend League - but the rules are different tonight, so they won’t be able to use their best bowlers to the same extent as they did on Saturday.’ In tonight’s game, played over 30 overs with each side facing 15, both teams must use a minimum of five bowlers so the most overs any one bowler can have is three.
Clark continued: ‘We’ve won five of our last five in the evening fixtures so we go into this game in good form.
‘We’re always cautious when we play Sporting Club because they have some good players - but if we stick to our game plan we have every chance of success,’ concluded a cautious yet confident Clark.
Sporting Club are no strangers to success in the JEP Cup, having won the trophy seven times since 1987, but St Ouen will be aiming for a hatrick of wins in recent years to add to their two victories in the past six seasons.
Tonight’s game will start at 6 o’clock and spectators are welcome to what is sure to be a hotly-contested cup final.
Article posted on 29th June, 2004 - 12.00am
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