Central Sports will have the chance to safeguard their Premiership 1 T20 title in the competition last after surpassing Clarke Road United in the 2nd semi-final last on the penultimate day of the TKR-sponsored T20 Festival at Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair, Friday night.
After being sent out in to bat, Clarke Road published 219 for 8 off their 20 overs with Anderson Mahase striking 47 off 40 balls and Joshua James breaking in with 34 off 14.
That overall was assisted by Central Sports distributing 45 bonus throughout the innings. Their batters made up for it in the chase, as they responded with 220 for 3 off 18.5 overs, with Roshan Primus putting them on course for the win with his 34-ball 77 before Lendl Simmons (64 not out off 44 balls) and Terrance Hinds (40 not out off 17 balls) ended up the task.
Central Sports lost openers Kamil Pooran (5) and Kjorn Ottley (13) in the very first 5 overs and ultimately crawled to 43 for 2 after the Powerplay before Primus and Simmons saved the chase.
Primus was off the mark with a 4 off Ahkeel Mollon and he opened a lot more by smashing Clevon Kalawan for the very first 6 of the innings which came off the very first ball after the Powerplay.
Both Simmons and Primus were handling 6s, striking one each off Shiva Sankar in the 8th over.
Primus was harsh. He smashed 2 more optimums off Kalawan in the ninth over as Central Sports reached 99 for 2 at the half-way point.
A 4 from Primus to the cover border took Central Sports to triple figures and another off Yannick Ottley over broad long on took the Barbadian to his half-century off 25 balls.
The century stand in between Primus and Simmons turned up in the next over, with “Prime Time” smashing a 6 and 4 off Sankar before transferring Mollon over long-off two times, to take the overall previous 150 in the 14th over.
Joshua James ultimately broke the third-wicket stand, bowling Primus for 77 however the protecting champs never ever lost momentum.
Simmons reached his half-century with a straight 4 off Ottley before Hinds ended the video game in the penultimate over with 2 fours and 6 off the very same bowler to seal the win with 7 balls to spare.
Previously, Clarke Road gained from some stubborn bowling as they left to a fast start with Akeem Jordan yielding 20 runs in the very first over.
Hinds (3 for 36) pulled things back in the 2nd over, with Anthony Bramble skying one to Rayad Emrit for 20, while Barbadian Jordan returned strong, bowling Vikash Mohan in the next over with ball game on 40 for 2.
Another stubborn over, this time by Hinds, talented Clarke Road 19 runs in the 4th over as they blazed their method to 59 for 2.
Clarke Road reach 80 for 3 at the end of the Powerplay and 99 for 4 at the half-way mark, before they got the rate once again with Mahase striking 6 fours before he was captured by Jordan off Emrit with ball game on 153 for 6 after 16 overs.
Dejourn Charles and Joshua James ransacked 23 run the next over from Primus, with each batter getting a 6 off the medium pacer.
A number of wides from Emrit and 2 misfields led to 18 runs coming off the 18th over, while a 6 by James off Primus took Clarke Road to 200 with 11 balls left in the innings.
Both James (34 off 14 balls) and Charles (17 off 9 balls) fell in the penultimate over however the damage was currently done, with Clarke Road scoring 66 runs in the last 4 overs.
It still wasn’t enough to stop Central Sports’ march to today’s last where they will deal with PowerGen Penal from 7 pm.
Summarised ratings
Premiership 1 semi-final 2
Clarke Road United 219-8 (Anderson Mahase 47, Joshua James 34; Terrance Hinds 3/36, Mikkel Govia 2/13) vs Central Sports 220-3 (18.5 overs) (Roshan Primus 77, Lendl Simmons 64 n.o., Terrance Hinds 40 n.o.)
— Central Sports won by 7 wickets.