The Charlestown Secondary school has become so accustomed to being the Federation High Schools’ Cricket champions that one would tend to think that they took the grand finale versus the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC), for granted.
The grand finals were played between the two top teams, on Wednesday 3rd May at the Warner Park stadium.
CSS won the toss and elected to bowl first.
West Indies under 19 hopeful, Kian Pemberton, bowled quickly but his early spell was a bit off line.
However, Balgobin and Carlon Tuckett picked up crucial wickets, that left the home team struggling somewhat.
Enter Shelton Forbes and he being originally from Nevis, would have played against his opponents on numerous occasions.
His knock was superlative and that may well be an understatement. His array of shots around the grounds was beauty to the eyes of the beholders and he hit a few maximums. One straight six, sent the ball clear of the stands at the Lozac road end and the umpires were forced to get a replacement ball.
As the overs ran out, he perished on 74, trying to bash a pumped up Kian Pemberton, out of the Park.
Pemberton for his part, struck timber no fewer than three times, in his death spell.
The CFBC team ended on a competitive 152 all out but based on the strong CSS batting line, it was expected to be a competitive finish.
However, to the dismay of the CSS fan base, the team catapulted to 61 all out, to gift the winner’s trophy to the CFBC team.
The batsmen seemed overly aggressive and just appeared in a hurry to catch the return ferry.
CFBC are therefore the 2017 Giant Malt High Schools champions.