Barbados secured first place in Group B with a 143-run win over Combined Campuses and Colleges at Kensington Oval on Saturday evening. The Group B host side finished 7-1 in pool play with their only loss coming to Jamaica. Barbados’ opponent in the semi-final stage will be the loser of Sunday’s Leeward Islands v Trinidad & Tobago Group A match at Coolidge.
The win was set up by a trio of fifties from Kraigg Brathwaite (51), Shai Hope (62) and Jonathan Carter (79) as Barbados posted 294 for 8 after choosing to bat first. The bulk of the damage was done during a brisk third-wicket stand between Hope and Carter in which they added 119 in just 13 overs after coming together in the 29th over.
CCC’s chase struggled to get momentum early after Jason Holder struck twice in the Powerplay. Ashley Nurse, the tournament’s leading wicket-taker, and fellow spinner Sulieman Benn took three wickets apiece to rip through the middle order and CCC were eventually bowled out for 151 in the 45th over.
Jamaica kept up their solid form with a five-wicket win over ICC Americas at Windward Park. After losing two of their first three matches, Jamaica have now won five straight heading into the semi-finals. Legspinner Damion Jacobs took a career-best 6 for 34 to trigger a collapse from 89 for 2 to 133 all out after Jamaica had sent in ICC Americas.
Hamza Tariq top-scored with 32 and added 66 with Alex Amsterdam for the third-wicket but Tariq’s wicket in the 17th over, the first claimed by Jacobs, sparked a rapid slide. Jacobs struck three times in the 25th over to hasten a quick finish to the innings, claiming Akeem Dodson on the second ball of the over for 12 before nabbing Timroy Allen and Nikhil Dutta for a pair of ducks to finish the over at 113 for 7. Saad Bin Zafar was the final wicket to give Jacobs his sixth, ending the innings in just 31 overs, even more remarkable since ICC Americas had been scoring at nearly six an over through the first 16 overs with only two wickets down.
Fast bowler Ali Khan, playing in his first match of the tournament after missing the first seven games with a hamstring injury, struck twice in the Powerplay but was expensive going for more than six an over to finish with 2 for 39. Andre McCarthy struck a run-a-ball 47 and Devon Thomas made 43 off 39 balls before he fell to Saad Bin Zafar with scores level. John Campbell hit the winning single in the following over to clinch victory with 26.2 overs to spare.
