Jamaica Kingsmen advance to CPL final

By Kurtis Hinds

Jamaica Kingsmen will face Antigua and Barbuda Falcons in Sunday’s final of the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League at Kensington Oval.

Playing at Kensington Oval on Friday, they held their nerve during a thrilling run chase to defeat crowd favourites Guyana Amazon Warriors by five wickets, with three balls remaining in the high-scoring thriller.

Set a challenging 207 to win on a wicket that has proven challenging for batsmen, the Kingsmen got off to a blistering start, racing to 75 for one at the end of the powerplay.

Maaz Sadaqat was dismissed at the end of the third over, but by that time he had already hammered 41 from just 14 deliveries, with five fours and three sixes.

Keacy Carty joined Kirk McKenzie at the wicket, and that pair shared in a 48-run, second-wicket partnership before McKenzie was dismissed for 34 off 20 balls, as the Kingsmen progressed to 90 for two in the ninth over.

Player of the match Rovman Powell, who is leading the new franchise for the first time after leaving Barbados Tridents, played a captain’s innings with an unbeaten 40 from 17 balls, including two fours and four sixes, as Jamaica sealed the win at 207 for 5 in the final over, much to the disappointment of the massive contingent of Amazon Warriors fans at the venue.

Dwaine Pretorius was the most successful bowler, after taking two for 47.

Earlier, after the Amazon Warriors were sent into bat, Shimron Hetmyer powered them to 206 for four after completing his third CPL century off the last ball of the innings. The unbeaten innings came from 45 balls and featured four fours and eight sixes.

The challenging total seemed unlikely after Guyana slipped to 20 for 2 in the fifth over, but Hetmyer, who said after the match that he was determined to pace his innings much better, got good support from Shai Hope, who added 40 from 33 balls, and Quentin Sampson, who chipped in with 29 from 17 balls.

Speaking at the post-match ceremony, Powell described his team’s journey to the final as a proud one.

“It started out with us losing three games early in the competition. In the middle of the competition, we found some form and confidence and realised that we can play cricket as a bunch.

“We just wanted to squeeze into the playoffs because, you know, once you get a Jamaica team into the playoffs, they’re dangerous,” he added.

Powell also shared his thoughts on the upcoming final.

“You know, we’ll take the next 24 hours to sit down, revise some plans and see if we can come up with some good plans against their match-winning players.”

Having played in the three previous finals of the competition, Amazon Warriors skipper Imran Tahir reflected on his team’s defeat.

“Yeah, look, I think that’s what we were expecting from our batting. They took the responsibility and put a very good score for us to defend. In the end this was a really good game. Obviously, it’s a tough one to swallow, but give credit to the other team. They played better cricket than us tonight.”