St.George?s 258-9

Western Stars 309-4

Albert Steede again proved just why he is widely considered to be one of the Island?s premier batsman, picking up where he left off the previous weekend to blast an unbeaten century to catapult Western Stars into the Belco Cup final at Lord?s on Saturday.

Steede cracked a boundary-laden 124 which included nine fours and eight towering sixes, bringing up his half-century off 60 balls in 91 minutes before reaching triple digits off 89 deliveries in 140 minutes at the crease.

The former skipper found solid support with the bat from opener Jermaine Postlethwaite who stroked an equally brisk 52, Salem Mukuddem 40 and veteran all-rounder Dennis Archer who weighed in with 37 runs.

But it was the blade of Steede which did most of the damage and made St.George?s pay dearly for winning the toss and sending their opponents in to bat on what appeared to be a batting friendly pitch.

Postlethwaite was also in punishing form with the willow, crashing the very first two deliveries of the match through the off-side boundary for four.

The Somerset Cup Match player featured in a 62 run opening stand with Treadwell Gibbons Jr (11), cracking four fours and three sixes while racing to his half-century on the hour off only 46 balls. Even when Postlethwaite departed in the unlucky 13th over, Stars were never really bothered despite losing the wicket of Gibbons three overs later.

Gibbons? departure paved the way for Steede to come in and flex his muscles and together with Mukuddem he added 110 runs for the third wicket and an additional 124 runs for the fourth with Archer. Steede recorded his ton in style with a straight driven six off Bascome over the long-off boundary.

Mukuddem, meanwhile, managed four fours while Archer ? who also held onto three catches in the field ? stroked six fours.

St.George?s skipper Gregg Foggo, former Star Wilbur Burt, Eugene (Calabash) Foggo and spinner Travis Smith all grabbed a scalp apiece while veteran seamer Herbie Bascome bowled a tidy line and length all afternoon ? but with no success.

The East Enders were also poor in the field, giving up 43 runs to Stars? total.

Despite enduring an awful day in the field, St.George?s wasted little time taking up Stars? challenge and were cruising along comfortably with openers Jason Anderson (57) and young Oronde? Bascome (27, five fours) putting on 68 for the first wicket. But once the latter was out ? caught by Stars skipper Durham off the bowling of Archer ? two more wickets would fall in the space of 36 balls, those of Sinclair Gibbons (three) and D?Upul Dhammika for one to leave St.George?s spluttering at 81 for three.

But with Anderson in sparkling form at the crease, there was always hope ? especially when Allan Douglas Jr joined the returning wicketkeeper/batsman. Douglas blasted a whirlwind 39 runs off only 26 balls during a 57-run fourth wicket stand with Anderson. But when he departed in the 26th over, Anderson was left to pick up the pieces and anchor the innings. And he did so admirably, reaching a deserved half-century off 62 balls having smashed nine fours before his defiant knock came to an abrupt end when Justin Robinson had him clean bowled with the third ball of his second over.

Of the remaining St.George?s batsmen, only Bascome (55) and Travis Smith (35 not out) offered any real resistance.

But once Bascome ? the last St.George?s? wicket to fall ? departed with the score on 244 with only one wicket remaining, Smith along with Burt (two not out) batted out the last few overs, finishing the day unbeaten with their team still 51 runs shy of the target.