T&T Red Force romped into the semi-finals of the 2016 Nagico Super50 series with an emphatic seven-wicket victory over the Jamaican Scorpions at Shaw Park, Tobago yesterday.
Brilliant slow bowling by Jon Russ Jaggessar (4/32) and Narsingh Deonarine (3/34) crippled the Scorpions for 176, despite a solid 70 from Devon Thomas. However, a brilliant century from Evin Lewis stole the show for the home team.
Left to chase 177 for victory and a guaranteed place in the semi-finals, the defending champions made run scoring look like a stroll along the Scarborough Waterfront.
Lewis smashed the ball all over the place to lead the way, as the fans in Tobago got a treat from their team. Many times the ball cleared the fence at the picturesque venue and players were left looking for it beyond the galvanized fenced venue.
With the ball not coming unto the bat and making it difficult for strokeplay, Lewis used brute force to power the Red Force along, He took the sting out of the Scorpions attack and Kyle Hope on the other hand just rode the momentum to collect 43 in the effort.
Lewis, who scored 74 in the opening match against the same opponents, was the star of the show.
He retired hurt soon after reaching his maiden List-A century. It came off 100 balls and included eight fours and six sixes.
With the win, the T&T Red Force is now firmly at the top of the standings in Group A with 17 points from four matches.
Earlier, Jamaica won the toss and decided to take first strike with the knowledge that as the day prolonged the pitch would have gotten slower and lower.
However, their batsmen having best use of the track did not make use of the opportunity and wickets fell at regular intervals. Rayad Emrit opened the floodgates, getting one to cut back and castle Jermaine Harrison.
Given the slow nature of the pitch, the spinners were introduced early on with Jaggessar opening the attack with Emrit and Deonarine coming in as first change. This worked perfectly for skipper Jason Mohammed, as the Guyanese Deonarine accounted for three wickets to reduce the visitors to 41/4. Included among the carnage was Scorpions skipper John Campbell. Brandon King joined Thomas and they took the score to 85. King took the attack to Red Force and for a while, the crowd grew quiet. Spinner Akeal Hosein then got the breakthrough, as he had King caught by Yannick Ottley for 32 off 33 balls with one six and a four. Devon continued to bat well and held the mid-innings together with assistance from Aldaine Thomas. The two negotiated the slow bowling well and added 65 runs for the sixth wicket. Mohammed brought back Jaggessar from the Southern End and he proceeded to clean up the tail. He accounted Aldaine (14) to start the slide and end came soon after. Devon was left to coax as many runs from the tail but fell via the run out route in a bid to control the strike. He left for 70 off 87 balls with four fours and two sixes. Jaggessar grabbed four wickets to push his tally to eight in the tournament thus far.
SCOREBOARD
T&T vs Jamaica
Jamaica inns
J Campbell c Lewis b Deonarine 17
J Harrison b Emrit 6
J Blackwood c Lewis b Deonarine 10
A McCarthy c Richards b Deonarine 6
D Thomas run out 70
B King c Y Ottley b Hosein 32
A Thomas c Hope b Jaggessar 14
S Cotterell not out 13
N Miller c Hope b Jaggessar 0
D Jacobs st Katwaroo b Jaggessar 3
N Gordon st Katwaroo b Jaggessar 3
Extras w2 2
Total all out (49.4ovs) 176
Fall of wkts: 13, 29, 34, 41, 85, 150, 158, 160, 166, 176.
Bowling: R Emrit 10-1-37-1, J Jaggessar 8.4-0-32-4, M Richards 6-1-16-0, N Deonarine 10-0-34-3, A Hosein 7-2-31-1, A Hosein 8-0-26-0.
Red Force
K Hope c Jacobs b McCarthy 43
E Lewis rt hurt 102
K Ottley c Thomas b Jacobs 3
J Mohammed lbw McCarthy 3
N Deonarine not out 8
Y Ottley not out 10
Extras 2b, 2lb, 3w 7
Total for 3 wkts (38.5ovs) 177.
Fall of wkts: 155, 156, 166.
Bowling: S Cottrell 5-1-22-0, N Gordon 1-0-8-0, N Miller 6-0-44-0, J Campbell 10-1-40-0, D Jacobs 10-1-40-1, A McCarthy 6.5-1-19-2.
Result: T&T Red Force won by 7 wkts.
Man of the match: Evin Lewis.
Other scores:
Hurricanes beat Marooners by 14
BASSETERRE—Leeward Islands Hurricanes defeated Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners by 14 runs, in their fourth round game in the Regional Super50 at the St Paul’s Sports Complex yesterday.
HURRICANES 242 for eight off 50 overs (Nkrumah Bonner 79, Montcin Hodge 66, Shane Jeffers 32; Mark Deyal 3-32, Ryan Hinds 2-46)
MAROONERS 228 all out off 49.1 overs (Vikash Moham 79, Chadwick Walton 39, Cassius Burton 23; Rahkeem Cornwall 4-21, Daron Cruickshank 3-28) (CMC)
