PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Jahmar Hamilton stunned favoured hosts Trinidad and Tobago Red Force with a 21-ball half-century as Leeward Islands Hurricanes pulled off an exciting four-wicket win in the second Super50 Cup semi-final, to set up an intriguing clash with WI Emerging Players in today’s final.
Chasing a challenging 269 at Queen’s Park Oval on Friday night, Hurricanes reached their target with three balls to spare, with captain Hamilton unleashing a scintillating unbeaten 78 off 34 deliveries.
With six runs needed from the final over, the 29-year-old smashed part-time off-spinner Jason Mohammad for four off the second ball to erase any doubt about the result, before formalising the win with a single off the very next delivery.
All told, the right-handed Hamilton belted three fours and eight sixes in an innings that left Red Force shell-shocked, after the hosts believed they held the advantage with Hurricanes stumbling on 165 for five in the 39th over.
Strokemaker Keacy Carty supported with a polished 53 off 70 deliveries while West Indies opener Kieran Powell struck a breezy 47 from 49 deliveries and Devon Thomas, a patient 28 from 50 balls.
Red Force had earlier made all the running when they gathered 268 for eight off their 50 overs, with opener Tion Webster smashing 91 off 120 balls and Mohammed carving out 59 from 55 deliveries.
West Indies batting star Darren Bravo got 34 and fellow left-hander Jeremy Solozano, 30, but Red Force lost their way late on after being well poised on 209 for three in the 44th over – losing their last five wickets for 59 runs off the last 42 balls of the innings.
Fast bowler Sheeno Berridge, the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 21 scalps, finished with four for 58.
Sent in, Red Force batted well in partnerships, Webster posting 99 for the first wicket with Solozano before adding a further 34 for the second with Keagan Simmons (14).
When Webster holed out to deep mid-wicket off Berridge in the 33rd over within 17 runs of Simmons after counting seven fours and four sixes, Bravo and Mohammed combined in a 59-run fourth wicket partnership to push Red Force past the 200-run mark.
Bravo struck two fours and a six off 33 balls while Mohammed notched six fours and a six, both appearing likely to go deep.
But Berridge returned to account for Bravo in the 44th over, mis-timing a drive to Thomas at long off and his dismissal stalled Red Force’s run-scoring at the back end of the innings.
The in-form Powell then anchored two stands at the top of the order to get Hurricanes away handsomely, putting on 33 for the first wicket with Montcin Hodge (15) and a further 42 for the second wicket with Amir Jangoo.
Powell became the first batsman to pass 500 runs in the tournament and was closing in on his fifth score in excess of fifty when he edged a cut at left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein and was caught at the wicket in the 19th over.
Thomas posted 41 for the fourth wicket with Carty but never really got going and by the time he was bowled by leg-spinning captain Imran Khan (2-71) in the 31st over, Hurricanes were facing a required run rate of over seven runs an over.
Carty, who punched four fours and a six, then took charge for Hurricanes by adding 31 with Akeem Saunders for the fifth wicket and 54 for the sixth wicket with Hamilton, before falling to a catch in the deep off-spinner Jon Russ Jagessar (2-49) in the 44th over with his side still needing 50 runs from 39 balls.
Hamilton had already launched a ferocious assault on Red Force’s bowlers to turn the game in the visitors’ favour. He smashed 25 runs from the 41st over bowled by Imran Khan and after being dropped on 42 by Bravo in the deep, reached his fifty in quick time at the start of the 46th over with a massive six off Jagessar.
He finally dominated a 45-run, seventh wicket stand with Terrance Warde (12) who limped off hurt at the start of the final over with the match all but won.
