BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – Barbados Pride overcame a career-best spell from West Indies fast bowler Oshane Thomas and a strong all-round performance from Andre McCarthy and cruised to a 75-run victory over Jamaica Scorpions in the Colonial Medical Insurance Super50 Cup on Thursday.
Thomas bowled with genuine pace and hostility and grabbed 4-52 from eight overs, extracting appreciable bounce from a typically hard, true Warner Park pitch and had several of the Pride batsmen hopping.
Nicholas Kirton led the way with 55 from 82 balls and fellow left-hander Kyle Mayers made 52 from 53 balls, defying the onslaught to lead consistent batting down the order, as the Pride were bowled out for 265 in their 50 overs, after they chose to bat.
McCarthy completed the demolition of the Pride batting, taking 4-41 from 10 overs with his uncomplicated off-spin.
View full scorecard here: https://www.windiescricket.com/matches/203388/
He followed with a top score of 95 from 83 balls that included six fours and five sixes to earn the Player-of-the-Match award, but the Scorpions were bowled out for 190 in 39.5 overs in the second Group “A” match.
Wicketkeeper/batsman Aldaine Thomas cracked 41, but no other batsman made 20, as the Scorpions were undermined by off-spinner Ashley Nurse’s destructive spell of 4-26 from 8.5 overs.
Fast bowler Chemar Holder too, made life uncomfortable for the Scorpions batting, snaring 3-37 from eight overs and left-arm spinner Joshua Bishop collected 2-54 from eight overs.
The Scorpions were set back early in the chase, when left-handed opener Assad Fudadin was caught behind for 10, when he gloved a snorter from Miguel Cummins in the fifth over.
They stumbled to 38 for two in the ninth over, when West Indies batsman Jermaine Blackwood was caught at deep mid-off from a miscued lofted drive off Bishop.
The Pride met resistance when McCarthy linked up for two handy partnerships of 43 with Thomas and 26 with Nkrumah Bonner.
But Nurse spun into action with the scalps of Scorpions captain Rovman Powell for one, Derval Green for three and Jamie Merchant for the same score, as the Jamaican franchise wobbled to 127 for seven in the 28th over.
McCarthy reached his 50 from 54 balls with a single into the off-side off Shamar Springer and dominated a stand of 55 for the eighth wicket with Marquino Mindley.
But he fell short of a hundred, when Holder squared up and bowled with a well-pitched delivery, as the Scorpions lost their last three wickets for eight in the space of 18 deliveries.
Earlier, Kirton featured in two successive half-centuries stands that anchored the Pride to their competitive total.
He put on 63 for the third wicket with his captain Jonathan Carter and 51 for the fourth wicket with Mayers before he was caught at mid-wicket off McCarthy in the 24th over.
Nurse got 38, Carter added 33, wicketkeeper/batsman Tevyn Walcott gathered 32 and left-handed opener Kjorn Ottley stroked 25 to beef up the Pride total.
The Super50 Cup continues on Friday, when host Leeward Islands Hurricanes face Canada in another day/night contest which will be webcast “live” on the CWI website, www.windiescricket.com.
Source: CWI Media
