BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Monank Patel’s maiden List A hundred felled Jamaica Scorpions as USA Cricket wrapped up their Regional Super50 campaign with an impressive 74-run victory here yesterday.
The 25-year-old carved out 109 off 126 deliveries as USA raised a decent 240 for nine off 50 overs, after they were sent in at 3W’s Oval.
Barbadian Aaron Jones made 66 while opener Alex Amsterdam chipped in with 21.
New-ball seamer Jerome Taylor led the attack with four for 34 while pacer Derval Greene supported with two for 48.
In reply, Scorpions were 67 for two in the 11th over before collapsing to 166 all out in the 42nd over, with leg-spinner Timil Patel snatching three for 15 and left-arm seamer Saurabh Netravalker (2-29) and leggie Jones (2-46) playing supporting roles.
Jermaine Blackwood then stroked a run-a-ball 51 while Nkrumah Bonner chipped in with 30 but Scorpions lost their last eight wickets for 99 runs.
The defeat meant Scorpions can only finish second in Group B regardless of the result in the other group match between leaders Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners and Leeward Islands Hurricanes at Kensington Oval.
USA’s innings was built around Monank’s hundred, which included eight fours and two sixes.
When opener Jaskaran Malhotra fell cheaply for one in the second over with as many runs on the board, Monank shepherded the innings, posting 53 for the second wicket with Amsterdam and a critical 135 for the third with Jones.
Barbadian Jones faced 101 balls and counted five fours before going caught and bowled by left-arm spinner Christopher Lamont in the 42nd over.
Monank perished in the 46th over as part of a slide which saw the USA lose their last eight wickets for 51 runs.
There were warning signs on the horizons for Scorpions at the start of their run chase when Chadwick Walton fell to the first ball of the innings and his partner John Campbell followed in the next over for four, with 10 runs on the board.
Blackwood then came to his side’s rescue, hitting five fours and two sixes and adding 57 for the third wicket with Andre McCarthy (22) and a further 32 for the fourth wicket with Brandon King (19).
But when King departed in the 19th over, Blackwood followed 10 balls later as four wickets tumbled for 20 runs. Bonner provided a rearguard action, putting on 42 for the seventh wicket with captain Nikita Miller (20 not out) before Timil ran through the tail.
