KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC — Test seamer Alzarri Joseph combined with Jeremiah Louis to destroy Jamaica Scorpions’ second innings and propel Leeward Islands Hurricanes to a much needed 34-run victory, in an extraordinary, low-scoring seventh round game here Sunday.
Chasing 149 to win at Sabina Park on the third day of the day/night contest, the hosts collapsed to 114 all out, with the 20-year-old Joseph picking up five for 43 — his fourth five-wicket haul in only his 15th first class game.
Fellow pacer Louis, 21, finished with four for 23 to add to his four from the first innings, and end with match figures of eight for 27 which were good enough to earn him Man-of-the-Match honours.
Test batsman Jermaine Blackwood resisted with a top score of 47, an innings lasting 90 deliveries and a shade under 2-1/4 hours, and including four fours and a six.
But the right-hander found little support and his 37-run, eighth wicket stand with Jerome Taylor (19) was the best of the innings.
Earlier, Hurricanes fought their way to 133 — the highest innings total of the game — after resuming on a precarious 31 for five.
Their fightback was due to a wicketkeeper Jahmar Hamilton’s invaluable 45 and Louis’s 23. When Hurricanes slumped further to 63 for seven, the pair combined in a 63-run, eighth wicket partnership — the best of the game — to rally the innings.
Hamilton faced 98 deliveries in 143 minutes and struck five fours, before he was eighth out.
Pacers Rovman Powell (2-12) and Jerome Taylor 2-21, along with leg-spinner Damion Jacobs (2-28) and left-arm spinner Nikita Miller (2-43) all claimed two wickets each.
A whopping 25 wickets fell on Saturday’s second day after the first day was abandoned due to persistent rain.
