BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – An explosive hundred from Rovman Powell powered Jamaica Scorpions to a comfortable win over Canada and reinvigorated their chances in the Colonial Medical Insurance Super50 Cup on Saturday.
Chasing 244 for victory, the Scorpions stumbled to 96 for four mid-way through their innings before Powell, the West Indies batsman, entered and took the run chase by the scruff of the neck and battered the Canadian bowling into submission.
The Jamaica captain blasted four fours and eight sixes in undefeated 100 from 67 balls and dominated a fifth wicket stand of 92 with Nkrumah Bonner that got the Scorpions back on track before they coasted to a four-wicket win in their day/night, Group A contest.
View full scorecard here: https://www.windiescricket.com/matches/203407/
Bonner scored 49, Guyanese left-handed opener Assad Fudadin made 37 and Andre McCarthy got 23 to prop up the Scorpions batting in the face of disciplined, if not menacing bowling from the Canadians on another placid Warner Park pitch.
The Scorpions lost wicketkeeper/batsman Aldaine Thomas and West Indies batsman Jermaine Blackwood for ducks within three balls of each other in the second over and were wobbling on one run for two wickets.
But Fudadin anchored two successive stands that put the Scorpions on the brink of the 100-run mark. He shared 52 with McCarthy and 43 with Bonner before his dismissal had the Caribbean side scrambling on 96 for four.
Powell announced his arrival with a straight six off the first delivery he faced from Harsh Thaker’s off-spin and continued to strike the ball with aplomb the remainder of the way.
After Bonner was caught behind down the leg-side off Rayyankhan Pathan in the 36th over, Denis Smith came to the crease and put on 38 with Powell for the sixth wicket before he was run out, backing up too far, by Pathan’s direct hit at the bowler’s end from mid-off in the 41st over.
With 18 still needed, Powell kept his head and guide his side over the finish line, reaching his hundred from 66 balls, when he drove Pathan for a single to long-on before Derval Green formalised the result with a straight boundary off the next delivery from the same bowler with 39 balls remaining.
The result gave the Scorpions their second win in the tournament, moving them into third place in the group behind front-runners Barbados Pride and hosts Leeward Islands Hurricanes.
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Earlier, Nitish Kumar continued in his rich vein of form with 65 from 62 balls that included four fours and one six to lead consistent batting down the order for Canada, after they chose to bat.
Their captain Kanwarpal Tathgur hit 39, opener Jeet Metha gathered 33, Shreyas Movva was not out on 26 and Kaleem Sana-ur-Rehman was not out on 23.
Dennis Bulli, Oshane Thomas and McCarthy grabbed two wickets apiece for the Jamaicans.
Outside of a second wicket stand of 60 between Metha and Kumar, Canada were able to put together a number of average partnerships that helped them to post a competitive, if not challenging total.
Group “A” games continue on Sunday, when Barbados Pride face Combined Campuses & Colleges Marooners in a day/night contest, starting at 1:30 p.m. at Warner Park. This will be webcast “live” on the CWI website, www.windiescricket.com, and the Windies Cricket You Tube channel.
Group “B” play also resumes on Sunday with Guyana Jaguars and West Indies Emerging Players in a day/night, feature game, starting at 1:30 p.m. at the Queen’s Park Oval in the Trinidad & Tobago capital of Port of Spain. This will be televised “live” on ESPN Caribbean in the region.
A few miles due south, hosts T&T Red Force meet Windward Islands Volcanoes in another day/night game, starting at 1:30 p.m. at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in the southern Trinidad community of Tarouba. This will be webcast “live” on the CWI website, www.windiescricket.com and the Windies Cricket You Tube channel.
Source: CWI Media
