Melbourne demolish Lucas

Melbourne's ace offspinner Marlon Samuels (centre) is congratulated by teammates at Nelson Oval after grabbing one of his ten wickets in the match.

MELBOURNE completed an emphatic ten-wicket victory over defending champions Lucas at Nelson Oval yesterday to top the Rothmans All Island Cricket Championship.

West Indies Under-23 allrounder Marlon Samuels was again the hero for Melbourne taking five for 80 to end with match figures of 10 for 109.

Scores: Melbourne 318 all out (Donovan Pagon 115, Aubrey Wollaston 72; Delroy Morgan 5-52 and 30 without loss, Lucas 100 all out (Oneil Cruickshank 17, Delroy Morgan 16; Marlon Samuels 5-29) and 246 all out (Delroy Morgan 69 not out, Kevin Riley 46, Andre Coley 51; Marlon Samuels 5-80).

Lucas resuming on 109 for three yesterday with Norval Britton on nought and captain Andre Coley on 12 added 31 runs before Britton was bowled by Colin Stuart for 12.

Coley rushed to a quick-fire half century off only 79 balls in 140 minutes and struck five fours before he departed the scene at 190 for five and then wickets began to tumble around the solid Delroy Morgan.

Cruickshank (three) was trapped leg before wicket by Ray Stewart at 199 for six, Wayne Gayle (one) was caught by Colin Stuart at deep mid-off, Xavier Gilbert (seven) was also caught by Colin Fletcher at deep mid-off off the bowling of Barbadian spinner Winston Reid at 218 for eight. Omar Burke was well stumped by wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh Jr. for one and Ashumon Kentish (zero) was trapped leg before wicket by the impressive Samuels to leave the defiant veteran Morgan stranded on 69 which included six boundaries.

Needing just 29 runs to win Pagon and Wollaston flayed Lucas' bowling as their team cruised to an easy victory.

"I am very happy to have won the Rothmans All Island cricket title," said Melbourne's captain Robert Samuels.

"We worked really hard. All the players showed the necessary commitment and we got the reward. Although Lucas came out in the second innings and were a bit more determined, our bowlers stuck to the task and bowled well," added Samuels.

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