The Jamaica Scorpions are champions of the 2022 CG Insurance Super50 after a three-wicket win over the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force in the final at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium in Antigua on Saturday.
The Scorpions won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Red Force openers Kjorn Ottley and Amir Jangoo put on 46 before the latter was caught off the bowling of Scorpions skipper Rovman Powell for 23 in the 13th over.
Ottley was next to go four overs later for 33 off the bowling of Jeavor Royal to leave the Red Force 57-2.
One became two for Royal when he dismissed the experienced Jason Mohammed for just three in the 19th over to leave the Red Force 66-3.
Dennis Bulli then got into the action with the crucial wicket of Darren Bravo for 14 in the 22nd over to leave the score at 79-4.
The Red Force brought up their 100 in the 26th over but then found themselves in further trouble as 100-4 quickly became 101-5 as Odean Smith removed captain Nicholas Pooran for eight in the 27th over.
Yannic Cariah (39) and Akeal Hosein (20) brought the Red Force past 150 in the 36th over. One over later, the Red Force found themselves 157-6 after Cariah was dismissed hit wicket off the bowling of Nicholson Gordon for 43.
The Red Force lost their seventh wicket in the 41st over when Terrance Hinds was dismissed by Gordon for 17 with the score on 184.
A Sunil Narine six off Peat Salmon in the 45th over brought up the Red Force’s 200. In the same over, Salmon took the Scorpions’ eighth wicket, removing Akeal Hosein for 37 with the score on 206.
Gordon took his third wicket and the ninth overall when he dismissed Narine for 12 in the 46th over with the score on 208.
Shannon Gabriel was the last man to go for one as the Red Force were bowled out 217 in 47 overs, their lowest total in the tournament.
Nicholson Gordon ended with 3-51 from eight overs and got good support from Jeavor Royal (2-22 from four overs) and Odean Smith (2-29 from six overs).
Scorpions openers Brandon King and Chadwick Walton brought the score to 24 in the sixth over when King was dismissed by Shannon Gabriel for 12.
Walton (27) and Andre McCarthy (11) combined to bring up Jamaica’s 50 in the 11th over.
In the 20th over, Walton brought up his first fifty of the tournament off 60 balls.
The Scorpions’ 100 was brought up one over later through a boundary from Walton off Yannic Cariah.
McCarthy was next to bring up his first fifty of the tournament, and 13th in List A cricket, off 75 balls in the 30th over.
The final ball of the 32nd over saw Walton being dismissed by Cariah for a well-played 80 to leave the Scorpions 150-2 needing 68 to win from 108 balls.
McCarthy was next to go for 55 in the 35th over with the score on 155. Four overs later, with the score on 172, Alwyn Williams became the fourth Scorpions batsman dismissed when he was caught on the boundary off the bowling of Kharry Pierre for three.
Captain Powell was next to go in the 44th over for 25 with the Scorpions only needing 18 more to win from 39 balls. With 344 runs in total, Powell finished the tournament as the leading run-scorer.
With the Scorpions needing 14 more runs from 29 balls, Dennis Bulli was bowled by Terrance Hinds for two. The next over saw Peat Salmon going for 11 with just eight runs needed to win from 23 balls.
Odean Smith was the hero in the end with a six and a single in the 47th over bring the score to 218-7 to give the Scorpions their first CG Insurance Super50 Cup title since 2012, when they also beat the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in the final.
Bradley Jacks is a budding journalist and an avid sports fan. His love of research and sports has led him to SportsMax.tv, a place where those passions work hand in hand to allow him to produce content.
South Africa fall short of another big run chase as Windies take series
West Indies avoided a repeat of their remarkable, record-breaking defeat in the second T20I against South Africa by clinging on to win the series decider by seven runs.
The Windies had been on the wrong end of a historic run chase in the sides' previous encounter, the highest scoring Twenty20 match since the format was introduced.
But there would be no repeat in Johannesburg on Tuesday, even if Reeza Hendricks again made life difficult for the tourists after another strong Windies score of 220-8.
Hendricks was credited by centurion Quinton de Kock with inspiring the Proteas fightback in the second match, having contributed 68 off just 28 balls.
Missing De Kock's support, it was a one-man effort this time as Hendricks scored 83 off 43, not quite enough with South Africa falling short on 213-6.
West Indies had posted the second-highest T20I total not to include a single fifty but were also themselves grateful for the work of one batter in particular.
In a blockbuster conclusion to the first innings, Romario Shepherd had scored 26 from the final over to top-score with 44 from only 22 balls – the knock that ultimately proved the difference.
Phenomenal finish sees Windies safe
South Africa handed the ball to Kagiso Rabada with some confidence ahead of the 20th over, with the bowling superstar having restricted the Windies to 2-24 from his previous three overs.
Yet Shepherd, twice put down by De Kock, smashed Rabada all around the ground to set a daunting target. As a result, the Proteas needed to match Shepherd with 26 off the last but could only manage 18.
Repeat proves beyond Proteas
While Hendricks remained in the middle, it appeared very possible South Africa would pull off another stunning recovery. It would have been a record-breaking fifth successful 200-run chase in the format.
However, West Indies kept their nerve, crucially having Hendricks caught by captain Rovman Powell at long on in the 19th over. The Windies still have not lost a T20I series in South Africa, with two wins and a draw.
Powell saves 5-year-old ball-boy from injury by avoiding boundary collision during second South Africa T20I
West Indies captain Rovman Powell got injured while trying to save a 5-year-old ball boy at the edge of the boundary area during the second T20 International against South Africa on Sunday, March 26.
Powell, while chasing a ball towards the boundary, avoided a potentially catastrophic collision and chose to get hurt himself.
The incident occurred in the third over of the South Africa chase when Quinton de Kock hit the ball towards the long off boundary.
Powell gave chase and was inside the dive length to pull the ball back into the field before it touched the boundary. The West Indies captain, however, saw a five-year-old ball boy trying to get to the edge of line and catch the ball and decided to abort the chase in the last minute.
The West Indies captain then jumped over the boy and the boundary line and crashed into the LED boards, before toppling over.
Visibly shaken from the incident, Powell had to be treated at the side-line and took a decent amount of time to get back into the field.
As for the game, South Africa won by six wickets after pulling off a record chase. The West Indies posted 258-5 off their 20 overs and the South Africans needed only 18.5 overs to reach 259-4.
The third T20I takes place at Wanderers in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Harpy Eagles lead by 10.2 points ahead of final round of 2022/23 West Indies Championship
The Guyana Harpy Eagles will take a 10.2-point lead into their fifth and final round game of the 2022/23 West Indies Championship against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes at Providence.
The Harpy Eagles defeated the Jamaica Scorpions by 228 runs in round four for their third win to move to 68.2 points.
Second-placed Windward Islands Volcanoes kept pace with the Harpy Eagles at the top with a six-wicket win over the Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the Brian Lara Stadium to move to 58 points.
Their opponents in the final round will be third-placed Barbados Pride, who have 50 points after beating the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force by seven wickets at the Queen’s Park Oval. That game will take place at the same venue.
The points table is rounded out by the Hurricanes (41.4), the Red Force (28.6) and the Jamaica Scorpions (21.2). The Red Force will play the Scorpions at the Brian Lara Stadium in the final round.
All games start on Wednesday at 9:00am Jamaica Time (10:00 am ECT).
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
