ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – West Indies batsman Shai Hope struck his second hundred in three days as Barbados Pride crowned themselves Regional Super50 champions with a commanding 59-run win over a listless Jamaica Scorpions in the championship final here yesterday.
In a day/night contest at Coolidge Cricket Ground which failed to live up to the anticipated expectations of a thriller, Pride overcame a batting stutter to dominate the Scorpions with bat and ball, and pick up their second regional 50-overs title in four years.
The victory also made up for their disappointment in last year’s campaign when they lost to Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in the final.
Choosing to bat first, Pride were propelled to a competitive 271 for nine off their 50 overs by Hope’s 101, the 23-year-old’s third List A hundred.
Captain Jason Holder lashed an aggressive 69 off 47 deliveries while opener Kevin Stoute weighed in with 41 and Kraigg Brathwaite, 22.
Medium pacer Rovman Powell, strangely handed just three overs, picked up two for 27 while part-time off-spinner John Campbell claimed two for 35.
In reply, Scorpions were a shadow of the side that crushed Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in Wednesday’s first semi-finals and stumbled and stuttered to a disappointing 212 all out in the 45th over.
They were down and out at 122 for seven in the 31st over until the impressive Powell opened his shoulders to slam 65 for 59 deliveries, to rally the innings.
Andre McCarthy weighed in with 30, Damion Jacobs got 28 and opener Chadwick Walton, 26, but Scorpions failed to string together any major partnerships in the top and middle order and lost their way.
Lanky left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn did most of the damage with three for 33 while seamers Jason Holder (2-28), Carlos Brathwaite (2-43) and Kemar Roach (2-54) all claimed two wickets each.
Starting as favourites, Pride were given a solid start by Stoute and Brathwaite who added a patient 59 for the first wicket.
Stoute faced 47 balls and struck five fours while Brathwaite counted three fours in 44-ball before perishing in the 13th over when he played around a straight one from leg-spinner Jacobs and was bowled.
His departure triggered a surprising slide for the Pride who then lost four wickets for 79 runs to decline to 138 for five in the 35th over.
Stoute put on a further 26 for the second wicket with Hope before whipping left-arm spinner Nikita Miller to Jacobs at mid-wicket in the 20th over.
Jonathan Carter (8) then holed out in in the deep off Campbell in the 25th, Roston Chase (7) popped one that bounced from off-spinner Damani Sewell to short mid-wicket in the 30th before Shane Dowrich (6) hit a tame return catch back to Campbell in the 35th.
With Pride going nowhere quickly, Holder arrived to partner with Hope and transform the innings in a sparkling 127-run sixth wicket stand which stunned the Scorpions.
Hope, who hit 125 in Thursday’s semi-final against Leeward Islands Hurricanes, faced 98 deliveries and struck five fours and five sixes while Holder belted five fours and four sixes, as Pride gathered 110 runs off the last 10 overs of the innings.
Hope reached his half-century off 69 balls and required only 27 more deliveries to complete three figures.
The partnership ended when Holder, whose half-century came off 39 balls, holed out in the deep off Powell in the 48th over. Hope was eventually ninth out – run out off the second ball of the final over.
Scorpions then had a poor start when left-hander Steven Taylor loosely drove Roach to Carlos Brathwaite at mid-off, to depart for nine in the third over with the score on 13.
Roach struck again in the fifth over when Jermaine Blackwood unleashed a reckless swing and dragged on for seven with the score on 26.
Walton, who faced 44 balls and counted three fours, propped up the innings by adding 43 for the third wicket with McCarthy who also struck three boundaries in a 49-ball knock.
But with pressure building, Walton held out in the deep off Benn in 16th over, and with only five runs added, Campbell edged an attempted cut at off-spinner Ashley Nurse and was caught at the wicket by Hope in the 17th over.
McCarthy missed a sweep at Benn and was lbw in the 20th over and Sewell (6) and Jacobs followed quickly to leave Scorpions in strife.
Powell, belatedly arriving at number eight, breathed life into the innings, first in a 59-run, eighth wicket stand with Jerome Taylor (23) and then in a 41-run, ninth wicket partnership with Miller (6).
The right-hander struck five fours and four sixes, en route to his second consecutive half-century and eighth overall of his career.
But once Taylor picked out Carter at deep mid-wicket off Holder in the 40th, the pressure grew on Powell and when he lost Miller, lbw to Holder in the 44th, the burden grew heavier.
With 60 required off the last seven overs, Powell had no choice but to throw caution to the wind and he skied a catch to Holder in the deep off seamer Carlos Brathwaite, to hand Pride victory.
