Barbados Pride have advanced to their third consecutive final of the Cricket West Indies Regional Super50 Cup after beating English county side Kent Spitfires in their rain affected semifinal on Wednesday at Coolidge in Antigua.
Defending champions, Pride won the toss and got a brilliant 105 from captain Kraigg Brathwaite who allowed the top order to bat around him to put 263 for 3 on
Barbados Captain Kraigg Brathwaite made a brilliant 105 not out in semifinal one on Wednesday
the board.
In reply, Kent set a revised target of 230 from 43 over fell 13 runs short finishing on 216 for 8.
Pride will now await the winners of semifinal two which pits Guyana Jaguars and Windward Islands Volcanoes together.
Meanwhile, today’s second semifinal is expected to be another cracking affair when two of the pre-tournament’s dark horses clash at the Coolidge Cricket Ground with the coveted spot in the final on the line.
The Jaguars who are the more experienced of the two will begin as favourites but the Windward Islands Volcanoes will be no pushovers.
With six victories and 26 points the Jaguars have qualified for today’s meeting after topping Group B in Antigua while the Volcanoes managed 22 points from five wins which was one win more than Trinidad and Tobago Red Force who had the same amount of points.
Since walking back into the side as a replacement for Raymon Reifer, all-rounder Christopher Barnwell has propelled the Jaguars to the position they are in with some useful performances in five games.
With 215 runs so far including 89 in a winning cause over the Leeward Islands Hurricanes, Barnwell will carry the Jaguars’ batting along with rookie opener, Chandrapaul Hemraj who is having a dream start to his List A career. The left-handed batsman has so far notched up 223 runs and is the Jaguar’s second leading run scorer behind Shimron Hetmyer (284 runs) who, like Raymon Reifer, Devendra Bishoo and Keemo Paul has, left the squad for Windies international
Christopher Barnwell could be the man to take the Jaguars to their first final in three years
duties.
And while captain Leon Johnson has been exceptional with marshalling his pack, he has been too inconsistent with the bat and needs to stamp his authority at the crease despite tallying 189 runs so far including 99 against the Hurricanes.
With the enforced absence of Paul, Bishoo, Reifer and Keon Joseph the Jaguars have more than useful weaponry to get the job done in the likes of left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul (11 wickets) and right-arm seaming all-rounders Romario Shepherd (10 wickets), Sherfane Rutherford and Barnwell with four wickets each. Additionally, Paul Wintz who is a replacement player and Clinton Pestano are seam options while off-spinner Ramaal Lewis and left-arm spinner Anthony Adams have proven to be tidy.
On the other hand, the Volcanoes’ leading bowler is experienced off-spinner Shane Shillingford with 21 scalps and with the pitch expecting to turn after being used since the start of the tournament, the Jaguars batsmen will have their work cut out. Additionally, left-arm spinner Kavem Hodge with 12 victims has been among the wickets and can play a big part as well.
In the batting department, none other than the ever-green Devon Smith has once again proven to be the man to look out for. So far he has tabulated 263 runs but is second to Andre Fletcher with 283 runs including the Volcanoes’ lone century. Kirk Edwards (189), Johnson Charles (161) and Kyle Mayers (157) are the other batsmen with more than 150 runs that have been chipping in periodically.
The toss could be important with the team winning may want to chase and while the weather is expected to be fine again a full and exciting day/night game is on the horizon when the action begins at 14:00h.
