Christopher Powell - file

Manchester High, who fancy themselves as competent challengers to defending Headley Cup champions St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS), made a strong statement by hammering beaten rural knockout finalists Holmwood by a whopping 161 runs in the competition yesterday.

Led by captain Oshane Walters (95), all-rounder Jonathon Soloman (92) and Christopher Powell 59, Manchester racked up a formidable 317. In reply, Holmwood could only muster 156. Leg-spinner Hakeem Wright snared figures of 5 for 35, off 15 overs, as only Hanchard Hamilton provided any resistance, scoring almost half their total with a top score of 72.

The win facilitated Manchester's passage to the second round, as zone winners, where they will join defending champions STETHS as one the top ranked teams. In fact, the two are on collision course for the semi-finals if things unfold as expected. STETHS must win their upcoming quarter-final group and Manchester, also win theirs.

This is a possibility Manchester's coach Barry Barnes was hoping to avoid.

"After we beat Holmwood, I realised we would set up a early meeting with STETHS, but I guess if you want to win competition, you have to beat everybody. So until then, we hope to play as well as we did against Holmwood, he told Star Sports.

Both Manchester and Holmwood had been forced into a play-off after the two had finished on the same points after each posted preliminary zone wins over Cross Keys High and Knox. Their earlier top-of-the-table clash, which Manchester hosted, had ended in a draw. Then, Manchester on the strength of a century by national Under-15 player Christopher Powell had posted 243 for 7. Holmwood then forced a draw finishing on 43 for 3.

Earlier this week, STETHS formalised their qualification to the second round after deliberately playing for a draw against Munro. Entering Tuesday's game, they had tallied 25 points from five wins. Their status as group winner was never in threat, as they opted for batting practice to post 395 for 5. The highlight of the innings was national leg-spinner Donovan Nelson, who batted at No.7, and slammed an unbeaten 121, his first Headley Cup century.