BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Left-hander Jonathan Carter notched his fourth half-century to become the tournament’s leading run-scorer while seamer Shamar Springer claimed his maiden five-wicket haul, but Barbados Pride’s 39-run victory Saturday over Group B leaders Jamaica Scorpions was of academic importance only as they missed out on a semi-final spot in the Regional Super50.
Choosing to bat first in their final preliminary match at Kensington Oval, Pride rallied to 246 for five from their 50 overs – their highest total of the tournament – with Carter top-scoring with 82 and captain Shamarh Brooks striking 60.
In reply, Scorpions were on course for victory at 183 for four in the 36th over before collapsing to lose their last six wickets for 24 runs, dismissed for 207 in the 42nd over.
Andre McCarthy stroked 83 and Nkrumah Bonner, 41 but Under-19 World Cup star Springer scythed through the innings to finish with five for 30 and give Pride the edge.
The defeat, however, was only the Scorpions’ second and it kept them on 21 points with a match left against United States at 3W’s Oval on Monday.
Pride, meanwhile, nicked their fourth win but it was not enough to overhaul the second-placed Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners, whose fixture against the United States was abandoned without a ball bowled due to persistent rain at the Windward Sports Club.
Scorpions and Marooners have qualified for the semi-finals, scheduled for later next week.
Needing a victory to end an otherwise wretched campaign on a high, Pride started well as Leniko Boucher struck 46 at the top of the order, posting 47 with Shayne Moseley (27) for the first wicket and a further 60 for the second with Brooks.
When Boucher was second out in the 32nd over, Pride were in need of impetus at 117 for two, and they got it in the form of the enterprising Carter.
The 30-year-old, the last of whose 28 One-Day Internationals came 17 months ago, counted seven fours and two sixes in a hasty 69-ball knock – accelerating the innings nicely at the death.
Crucially, he put on 45 for the third wicket with Brooks who faced 72 deliveries and struck four fours, before dominating a 60-run, fourth wicket stand with Kevin Stoute who made 16.
Carter was eventually run out off the penultimate ball of the innings, scampering for a tight second run. He has 351 runs in the tournament at an average of 50.
Fast bowler Keon Harding, who finished with three for 58, then rocked Scorpions early, grabbing two wickets to send the innings crashing to 74 for four in the 14th over.
In his first outing of the tournament, Harding hurried the aggressive John Campbell into a defensive stroke and had him nicking behind for six in the second over and then had Jermaine Blackwood (23) brilliantly caught at backward point in the 10th over by a leaping substitute Hayden Walsh Jr., after Chadwick Walton had been run out for 17 in a bad mix-up two overs earlier.
When Brandon King edged veteran left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn behind, Scorpions were falling apart but McCarthy and Bonner united in a 109-run, fourth wicket partnership to tilt the odds in favour of the visitors.
McCarthy faced 96 balls and counted eight fours and two sixes while Bonner struck two fours off 61 balls.
But Springer intervened, trapping Bonner lbw and then also accounting for McCarthy in the 40th over, as he grabbed five of the last six wickets to tumble.
