POINTE-A-PIERRE, Trinidad (CMC) – An awesome display of power hitting by West Indies player Kieron Pollard took Queen’s Park CC a 37-run victory over Preysal Saturday night and booked a place for them in the final against Merry Boys.

Pollard thrilled the crowd on hand with a magnificent batting performance, striking 43 runs from 15 balls as Queen’s Park tallied the highest score of the tournament, 198 for six off 20 overs.

Preysal in reply rallied well behind skipper Shazan Babwah’s 72, but fell short by 37 runs in the end at 161 for eight.

Earlier, Queen’s Park CC had won the toss and decided to bat.

They lost skipper Justin Guillen in the first over for one.

The hard-hitting Daron Cruickshank then came in and blasted 22 off 12 balls and Runako Morton got 24 from 25 balls.

Darren Bravo who has batted very well in the tournament to date, was joined by Pollard and they took the score from 82 in the 10th over to 139 in the 14th.

Pollard struck three fours and four sixes in his rapid knock.

From then on it was all Bravo, as he tore into the Preysal attack.

He finished unbeaten on 69 off 47 balls with seven fours and six that earned him the man-of-the-match title.

Chasing 9.95 runs per over to win the match, Preysal got a good start of 48 from five overs but in their bid to keep in touch with the run-rate, lost wickets at regular intervals.

Openers Aaron Alfred (32) and Sherwin Jackson (21) scored well but after they departed, it was left to Babwah, who made a bold but futile attempt to pull off a victory.

He finished with 72 off 44 balls with four fours and five sixes.

T&T leg-spinner Imran Khan took three for 31 and West Indies off-spinner Amit Jaggernauth bagged two for 24.

In the earlier game Merry Boys beat Wanderers by 51 runs to book a place in last night’s final.

Barbadian Alcindo Holder (57) and Guyanese Royston Crandon (43) battered the Wanderers bowlers to take their team to 173 for nine.

T&T all-rounder Richard Kelly was incisive with the ball and propelled Merry Boys into the final.

Set a very challenging 174 runs to win the match at a run rate of 8.75, Wanderers with their inexperienced batting line-up were always going to struggle and this they did.

Opener William Perkins was the chief scorer, getting 41 off 44 balls with two fours and two sixes.

However, he was one of five victims for Kelly on the night.

Wanderers were still in the game up until the 10th over with the score at 74 for one but Kelly triggered a collapse that saw nine wickets fall for the addition of 48 runs, finishing with a man-of-the-match performance of five for 21.

Earlier, Wanderers won the toss and asked Merry Boys to take first strike.

Openers Mario Belcon and Holder, who posted an unbroken 113-run opening stand in the quarter-finals against PowerGen, were pivotal again.

Holder, a former West Indies youth player, was severe on the Wanderers’ fast bowlers and had fielders retrieving balls from the boundary at regular intervals.

He and Belcon put on 75 runs for the first wicket off nine overs, before Belcon fell for 27, constructed from 29 balls with four fours.

The Guyanese Royston Crandon joined Holder and they continued to flog the bowling.

The two took the score to 124 when Holder left for a well-played 57 off 37 deliveries with six fours and a six.

Crandon entertained the good crowd on hand with an aggressive knock.

He smashed his way to 43 off just 24 balls with four fours and four sixes.

When he departed, the score was 154 for three and the Merry Boys lost their next six wickets for 19 runs in the remaining three overs.