POINTE-A-PIERRE, Trinidad, CMC – An awesome display of power hitting by West Indies player Keiron Pollard took Queen’s Park CC a 37-run victory over Preysal Saturday night and booked a place for them in the final against Merryboys.
Pollard thrilled the crowd on hand with a magnificent batting performance, striking 43 runs from 15 balls as Queen’s Park tallied the highest score of the tournament, 198 for six off 20 overs.
Preysal in reply rallied well behind skipper Shazan Babwah’s 72, but fell short by 37 runs in the end at 161 for eight.
Earlier, Queen’s Park CC had won the toss and decided to bat.
They lost skipper Justin Guillen in the first over for one.
The hard-hitting Daron Cruickshank then came in and blasted 22 off 12 balls and Runako Morton got 24 from 25 balls.
Darren Bravo who has batted very well in the tournament to date, was joined by Pollard and they took the score from 82 in the 10th over to 139 in the 14th.
Pollard struck three fours and four sixes in his rapid knock.
From then on it was all Bravo, as he tore into the Preysal attack.
He finished unbeaten on 69 off 47 balls with seven fours and six that earned him the man of the match title.
Chasing 9.95 runs per over to win the match, Preysal got a good start of 48 from five overs but in their bid to keep in touch with the run-rate, lost wickets at regular intervals.
Openers Aaron Alfred (32) and Sherwin Jackson (21) scored well but after they departed, it was left to Babwah, who made a bold but futile attempt to pull of a victory.
He finished with 72 off 44 balls with four fours and five sixes.
T&T leg-spinner Imran Khan took three for 31 and West Indies off-spinner Amit Jaggernauth bagged two for 24.
In the earlier game Merry Boys beat Wanderers by 51 runs to book a place in tonight’s final.