Richard Bryan, Star Writer

Manchester High became the first finalists of the Grace/ISSA Headley Cup after a convincing performance over Dinthill in Mandeville on Thursday.

The other finalists are yet to be determined as defending champions St Elizabeth Technical are still involved in semi-final group action while Holmwood Technical await the outcome.

Manchester were lifted by the performance of their national junior player, Jamie Merchant. On the first day of a rain-affected match, Merchant, in his role as an off-spinner, had impressive figures of five for 10 off seven overs as the Dinthill batting line-up, featuring Nkrumah Bonner and Shacoya Thomas, folded for a mere 55 in 24.5 overs. Bonner and Thomas, who both represented the West Indies in the last Junior World Cup, went for ducks off Merchant.

When Manchester batted, Merchant, who scored a century in the preliminary round, struck a powerful 109 after coming to the crease after his team was in some trouble at 59 for four. His knock included 18 fours and a six and carried Manchester to 215 for an imposing 160 lead and more important, the crucial first innings honours that was needed to secure a final berth.

The game also featured controversial moments with the Dinthill coach, Nkrumah Morgan, accusing the Manchester camp of altering the pitch conditions to ensure there was a late start to the second and final day's play. Morgan confirmed he would be lodging a protest with ISSA.

The game also ended with some confusion as to the final result as Dinthill players decided to close their innings after reaching 155 for eight, still five runs short of the Manchester first innings total.