The Red Force bowled out the home side for 129 and then motored to 130-1 off 24.5 overs. It was their fourth win and earned them a spot in the semi-finals.
Sunil Narine, playing his 100th List A match, was brilliant as he took 3-36 from his 10 overs. One of his wickets came from a perfectly flighted off-break which turned a long way and rattled the stumps of Terrence Warde.
However, fast bowler Ravi Rampaul was named the CG Insurance Man-of-the-Match for his excellent new-ball spell and took 3-17 from seven overs.
The top score for the Hurricanes came from opener Kieran Powell (29), while Hayden WalshJjr chipped in with 26.
The Red Force them reached the target with little bother as Kjorn Ottley and Jason Mohammed shared an unbroken second-wicket partnership of 93. Ottley made 47 not out with six fours and a six over cover, while Mohammed remained unbeaten on 40 off 55 balls with four boundaries.
Evin Lewis gave the innings a flying start as he smashed two sixes and three fours in 28 off 27 balls, but fell, caught at point off pacer Quinton Boatswain.
Rampaul was quite pleased with his contribution and the outcome.
“I am very happy with the performance of all our bowlers throughout this tournament. I’ve been putting some hard work in the conditions and I reaped the rewards today (Wednesday),” he said at the conclusion of the match.
“It feels great to get the Man-of-the-Match. It’s always a pleasure to play for my country and I’m really enjoying it. I grew up playing with a lot of my team-mates and it’s been good fun. We believe we can win and we want to win."
Thursday: Windward Islands Volcanoes vs Barbados Pride at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. First ball is 9 am (8 am Jamaica Time).
Scores in the match so far, the Scorpions, 385, and the Hurricanes, 227 and 134-4.
The Scorpions, batting first, posted the competitive total thanks to Jermaine Blackwood’s 98 and Denis Smith’s 84.
In reply, only Montcin Hodge, 52, and Terance Ward, 65, made it to landmarks while Amir Jangoo scored 35 before he was run out.
Patrick Harty was the pick of the Scorpions bowling, bagging 4-43 on the way to restricting the Hurricanes to just 227.
Batting a second time and facing a deficit of 158, the Hurricanes made a fight of it but were pegged back by Nicholas Gordon’s 2-44.
That fight came mostly from the bat of Kieran Powell, who scored 54 before Gordon had him caught by Smith.
1-37 from Harty and 1-27 from Pete Salmon left the Hurricanes 24 runs short with just six second-innings wickets still intact.
The Hurricanes could bat for a long time tomorrow and end the match in a stalemate, as Jahmar Hamilton, 12, and Ward, 20, have hunkered down.
The Scorpions, on the other hand, will look to get rid of these six wickets as soon as possible and set to the task of overhauling what they hope will be a very small target. They currently lead by 24 runs.
The squad is expected to be whittled down to 13 by Monday, June 7.
Fast bowler Jayden Seales is a first-time inclusion in the West Indies provisional squad for a Test Series. Hope had scores of 79 and 106 in the just-concluded BestvBest intra-squad match while Powell scored a patient 95 as his side marched towards victory. Meanwhile, Captain Kraigg Brathwaite, Alzarri Joseph and Kemar Roach have also been included having recently returned from stints playing County Cricket in England.
The two-match Betway Test Series will be played at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground for the Sir Vivian Richards Trophy on June 10-14 and June 18-22. These are the final matches in the current cycle of the ICC World Test Championship with both teams trying to finish higher in the final championship table.
The 17-man squad comprises Kraigg Brathwaite (Captain), Jermaine Blackwood (Vice-Captain), Nkrumah Bonner, Darren Bravo, Roston Chase, Rahkeem Cornwall, Joshua Da Silva, Shannon Gabriel, Jahmar Hamilton, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Kyle Mayers, Kieran Powell, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales and Jomel Warrican.
According to CWI, fast bowler Chemar Holder was unavailable due to injury while 19-year-old. The selectors have also revealed that four other young fast bowlers Keon Harding, Preston McSween, Marquino Mindley and Nial Smith will remain in St. Lucia to assist the Test squad with their preparations.
Walsh Jr, who first hammered three fours and three sixes in an unbeaten 60 off 55 balls, to guide the Hurricanes to a competitive 239, returned to snare five wickets for 48 runs in nine overs which restricted West Indies Academy to a paltry 173 and in the process, handed them their first defeat of the tournament.
Scores: Leeward Islands Hurricanes 239 all out (48.5 overs); West Indies Academy 173 all out (40 overs)
Asked to take first strike, the Hurricanes –unlike the brisk start in their opening eight-wicket win over reigning champions Jamaica Scorpions –were slow into stride, as they lost Kofi James (three) with six runs on the board.
However, first match hero Kieran Powell (33) and Keacy Carty (37), balanced things out before the former’s 36-ball knock which included five boundaries was brought to an end by Ashmead Nedd.
Carty pushed on in his 55-ball innings which had four boundaries, but when Joshua Bishop accounted for his and Karima Gore’s (nine) scalp, Hurricanes were left at 101-4 in the 21st over.
Jahmar Hamilton (27) and Rahkeem Cornwall (14) had good starts but couldn’t click on, as they too succumbed to Bishop’s spin, with the score at 157-6.
But Justin Greaves, who had a solitary boundary in a patient 34 off 59 balls, stood with Walsh Jr to add 66 valuable runs for the seventh wicket, especially as the remaining batsmen, including captain Alzarri Joseph, fell cheaply.
Bishop led the Academy bowlers with four wickets for 27 runs from his 10 overs, while Nedd had two wickets for 43 runs from his 10 overs, and Matthew Forde snared two wickets for 45 runs from 5.5 overs.
The Academy’s chase started positively, with Kimani Melius (37) and Matthew Nandu (29), posted a 64-run opening stand, but when both fell, things quickly took turn in favour of the Hurricanes.
This, as the Academy lost wickets at regular intervals, with Teddy Bishop (27), Nyeem Young (25) and Ackeem Aguste (21), the only other batsmen to offer any resistance to Walsh Jr’s leg spin. Another slow bowler, Daniel Doram, who picked up seven wickets against the Scorpions, took three wickets for 33 runs on this occasion.
Powell will replace Fabian Allen in the Patriots squad and will be available for their match against the Guyana Amazon Warriors on Wednesday, August 19.
As a native of St Kitts & Nevis, Powell was invited to join the Patriots squad as a training player but he will now be eligible to play for the franchise.
Powell has played 40 Tests and 46 ODIs as well as one T20 International. Powell has played for the Patriots before, most recently during the 2016 Hero CPL. Powell was the leading scorer in last year’s Regional Super 50 competition, making 524 runs for the Leeward Islands.
Powell travelled into Trinidad & Tobago on August 2 and he has gone through the rigorous quarantine and testing process that Hero CPL and the Ministry of Health put in place.
This year’s CPL is taking place behind closed doors in two venues in Trinidad & Tobago with the final taking place at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on 10 September 2020.
