A CENTURY of 125 from Shai Hope led the Barbados Pride to a dominant victory over the Leeward Islands Hurricanes in their WICB Regional Super50 semi-final at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua last night.The Pride batted the Hurricanes out of the game, posting an impressive 314-7, before routing their opponents for 204. Barbados Pride will now go on to play the Jamaica Scorpions in the Regional Super50 final tomorrow.
Choosing to bat, the Pride got off to a solid start with opener and skipper Kraigg Brathwaite scoring 54 in a partnership with Kevin Stoute, 21, worth 42.
Hope’s innings was next, and he started slowly before accelerating to score his 125 from 108 deliveries.
The number three batsman struck eight fours and five big sixes to bring up his total.
There were a couple of wickets in the middle overs with Jonathan Carter, 0, and Ashley Nurse, 0, not contributing. However, lovely cameos from Roston Chase, 31, Jason Holder, an unbeaten 42 from 26 deliveries, and Carlos Brathwaite 27 from 11, helped push the total to something that is more achievable than not.
Young West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph struggled, ending with figures of 1-71, while Jason Campbell was also expensive, going for 70, though he did bag two wickets in the effort.
Rahkeem Cornwall was, not for the first time, the Hurricanes’ best bowler with figures of 2-53 from his 10 overs.
Akeal Hosein was miserly, bagging 1-37 from 10. However, the absence of pacer Gavin Tonge was telling, as the Hurricanes used three bowlers to complete his complement of 10 overs.
Those three bowlers, Jermiah Louis, 4 overs, none for 29, Chesney Hughes, two overs, none for 15, and Odelmo Peters, 4 overs, one for 36, combined to give up 80 runs in their 10 overs.
In reply, the Hurricanes were always going to have to depend on the consistently good batting of their skipper, Kieran Powell, but a rising delivery from his counterpart Holder sent him packing for just three runs.
The middle order of the Hurricanes had always been a little shaky, and today was no different, as Jermaine Otto 1, Jahmar Hamilton 11, and Chesney Hughes 2, all went cheaply.
The early wickets meant there was no chance of chasing down the big total, and Montcin Hodge’s patient 63 was in vain.
Apart from Hodge, only Cornwall, 30, and Hosein, 28, offered any real fight until Louis smashed a few towards the end of the innings to end unbeaten on 41.
In bowling out the Hurricanes, an interesting statistic emerged, as Hope became the first regional cricketer to score a century and then be involved in seven dismissals.
The wicketkeeper bagged five catches and had two stumpings in the innings where Carlos Brathwaite had 3-56, Ashley Nurse 3-37 and Kemar Roach 2-36. Holder ended with figures of 1-28, the same as Sulieman Benn.

PRIDE innings
K. Brathwaite c Otto b Hosein 54
K. Stoute b Cornwall 21
S. Hope c Louis b Joseph 125
J. Carter c Powell b Cornwall 0
R. Chase c Hughes b Campbell 31
A. Nurse c wkp. Hamilton b Campbell 0
J. Holder not out 42
C. Brathwaite c Hosein b Peters 27
S. Dowrich not out 1
Extras: (lb-3, w-10) 13
Total: (7 wkts, 50 overs) 314
Fall of wickets: 1-42, 2-119, 3-121, 4-204, 5-204 6-272, 7-305.
Bowling: Hosein 10-0-37-1, Joseph 10-0-71-1 (w-5), Cornwall 10-0-53-2, Campbell 10-0-70-2 (w-2), Louis 4-0-29-0 (w-1), Hughes 2-0-15-0, Peters 4-0-36-1 (w-2).
HURRICANES innings
M. Hodge stp. Hope b Nurse 63
K. Powell c wkp. Hope b Holder 3
J. Otto c Holder b Roach 1
J. Hamilton c wkp. Hope b C Brathwaite 11
C .Hughes c Hope b C Brathwaite 2
R. Cornwall c Stoute b Benn 30
O. Peters stp. Hope b Nurse 3
A. Hosein c Chase b Nurse 28
J. Louis not out 41
J. Campbell c wkp. Hope b Roach 10
A. Joseph c wkp. Hope b C Brathwaite 5
Extras: (lb-2, w-4, nb-1) 7
Total: (all out, 47.3 overs) 204
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-25, 3-39, 4-43, 5-93, 6-99, 7-139, 8-151, 9-177.
Bowling: Roach 10-1-36-2 (w-2), Holder 7-0-28-1 (w-2), Benn 10-0-28-1, C Brathwaite 7.3-0-56-3 (nb-1), Nurse 10-0-37-3, Chase 3-0-17-0.