BRIDGETOWN, Barbados,CMC – A charged-up Jamaica Scorpions dealt the seemingly invincible Barbados Pride their first loss of the Regional Super50, when they inflicted a sobering 74-run defeat on the tournament favourites at Kensington Oval here Thursday.
Scorpions were sliding towards defeat when Pride cruised to 118 for one at the half-way stage in pursuit of 256 for victory, but they rebounded spectacularly to claim the last nine wickets for 63 runs and send the hosts tumbling to 181 all out in the 41st over.
Once again, off-spinner John Campbell was at the heart of the Scorpions fightback, claiming four for 43 from his 10 overs, to follow up a similar four-wicket haul against Guyana Jaguars three days ago.
Damani Sewell, also an off-spinner, supported with three for 46 while captain and left-arm spinner Nikita Miller cleaned up the tail to finish with two for 36.
Shai Hope top-scored with 56 – his second straight half-century – while Kraigg Brathwaite got 52 but they were two of only four to make it into double figures as Pride suffered a shocking collapse.
Scorpions had earlier benefitted from Devon Thomas’s 65 and Chadwick Walton’s 58, as they got up to 255 for eight off their 50 overs, after choosing to bat first in the day/night affair.
Left-handed opener Steven Taylor chimed in with 45, Test batsman Jermaine Blackwood got 32 while all-rounder Rovman Powell struck 23 down the order.
Off-spinner Ashley Nurse (3-38) and fast bowler Miguel Cummins (3-29) picked up three wickets apiece.
Already qualified for the final four but seeking to avenge their defeat to the hosts 10 days ago, Scorpions were given a superb start when Walton and Taylor put on 99 off 102 deliveries for the first wicket.
While the right-handed Walton struck six fours and a six off 68 balls, Taylor counted four fours and two sixes in an attractive 52-ball knock.
The stand ended in the 17th over when Taylor cut Nurse to Jomel Warrican at backward point but Walton put on a further 28 for the second wicket before he too departed, bowled by Nurse after coming down and missing a heave in the 23rd.
Blackwood, who struck a four and two sixes off 47 balls, was one of four wickets to fall for 51 runs as Scorpions declined to 178 for five in the 35th over.
However, Thomas stepped up, striking four boundaries in a controlled 73-ball knock that was the foundation of a 64-run, sixth wicket stand with Powell, that ensured Scorpions rallied late.
Pride then found themselves under pressure early when makeshift opener Kevin Stoute perished for one in the fourth over with the score on three, picking out Campbell at third man with an upper cut off left-arm pacer Gavon Brown.
Hope and Brathwaite, both right-handers, brought Pride back into the game with a 115-run, second wicket partnership. They were forced to weather a fiery spell from rookie speedster Renard Leveridge but blossomed thereafter.
Hope, dropped on 49 at the wicket off Miller with the score on 99 for one in the 23rd over, struck eight fours in a 70-ball innings while Brathwaite faced 83 balls and counted two fours.
With the pressure piling on Scorpions, Hope drove an innocuous delivery from Campbell to Powell at mid-off in the 26th over and his dismissal triggered a dramatic collapse where six wickets tumbled for 28 runs in the space of 52 deliveries.
Jonathan Carter (3), trying to cut one too close to him, was bowled by Sewell at 121 for three in the 27th over and Test star Roston Chase was lbw without scoring to a full length ball from Campbell in the 28th over with a single run added. Scorpions then struck the killer blow in the 30th over when Campbell had Brathwaite bowled playing on, trying to steer a delivery late. Rocking on 129 for five, there was to be no recovery despite Nurse’s cameo 26 and captain Jason Holder’s 20, as Scorpions clinically scythed through the lower order.
