BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners raised the curtain on the 2017 Regional Super50 in style when they stunned Jamaica Scorpions by 75 runs in the opening game here yesterday.
Fired by teenaged opener Amir Jangoo’s measured 64, Marooners raised a modest 214 for eight off their 50 overs at 3Ws Oval.
However, Scorpions were then undermined by off-spinner Mark Deyal (3-22) and fast bowler Keon Harding (3-30) as they tumbled to a disappointing 140 all out off 35 overs.
Only Brandon King with a top score of 48 showed any enterprise as Scorpions failed to mount any meaningful partnerships and lost wickets steadily.
Sent in in the Zone B encounter, Marooners lost captain Jamal Smith cheaply for 13 at 27 for one in the seventh over but Jangoo revived the innings with support from veteran all-rounder Ryan Hinds who got an unbeaten 39 and Cassius Burton who made 32.
Left-hander Jangoo faced 114 balls and struck four fours and a six, and anchored a string of small partnerships which prevented the innings from collapse.
He put on 32 for the second wicket with Kyle Corbin (12), 38 for the third wicket with Vikash Mohan (20) and another 38 for the fourth wicket with Burton.
When Jangoo was lbw to leg-spinner Damion Jacobs (2-22) in the 38th over, former West Indies left-hander Hinds arrived to smash two fours and two sixes in his 34-ball knock, to rally the innings.
He put on 29 for the fifth wicket with Burton and 28 off 22 balls for the eighth wicket with Nino Henry who made just six.
The target seemed a straightforward one until Harding bowled openers Chadwick Walton (15) and John Campbell (1) in successive overs to leave the Scorpions in strife at 22 for two in the fifth over.
Test batsman Jermaine Blackwood threatened briefly, banging four boundaries in 19 off 14 deliveries but Harding ended the cameo by removing the right-hander to a catch at the wicket.
Deyal further hurt the innings by sending back Devon Thomas (5) and Rovman Powell (2) in successive overs as Scorpions stumbled to 64 for five in the 13th over.
King inspired the best stand of the innings when he put on 39 for the sixth wicket with debutant Damani Sewell (10), raising hopes of a late order revival.
But King’s dismissal, lbw to left-arm spinner Larry Edward in the 25th over, sparked a slide which saw four wickets tumble for the addition of just 20 runs and there was no further recovery for the visitors.