…Walton and Blackwood smash centuries

THE Jamaica Scorpions are through to the final of the WICB Regional Super50 after a commaning performance against the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in the semi-final at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua last nightOn the way to a 292-run victory, the Scorpions, through centuries from Chadwick Walton and Jermaine Blackwood, racked up 434, more runs than any Caribbean team in history.
Walton, who was disappointed when he got out at 117, started the ball brilliantly with Steven Taylor, who made 88.

The two shared in a 174-run opening stand that ended in the 22nd over. Blackwood would pick up the mantle, batting with Walton before the latter went with the score on 269 for two.
By that time, Walton had faced just 96 deliveries, while Taylor took 71 to get to his total. Blackwood would then find a partner in Rovman Powell, who was jsut as keen to put his foot to the pedal, scoring 95 from 45 deliveries before he was bowled in the final over by Ravi Rampaul. The Red Force pacer would end with figures of 2-83.
Blackwood would end unbeaten on 108 from 88 deliveries.
If it was possible to bat a team out of a game, the Scorpions had done just that, and by the time Jerome Taylor, 3-27, and Reynard Leveridge, 2-31, had made some inroads into the top order, the game was over.
When Powell, who came on to bowl later on in the T&T innings, started carrying over his arm, the momentum from his batting spilled over and he ended up with 5-36 on a pitch that it was assumed was good for batting.
Only Jason Mohammed showed some fight, scoring a run-a-ball 62 with his captain, Denesh Ramdin, hanging around for 35 deliveries to score 27. The game was over in the 27th over, as Taylor took great pleasure in bowling Shannon Gabriel, who may want to forget this game as quickly as possible, for a duck.
Earlier, Gabriel had bowled nine wicketless overs that yielded 91 runs.

SCORPIONS
+C Walton lbw b Imran Khan 117
S Taylor c Ottley b Mohammed 88
J Blackwood not out 108
R Powell b Rampaul 95
J Campbell c wkp Ramdin b Rampaul 0
Extras (b1, lb11, w12, nb2) 26
TOTAL (4 wkts, 50 overs) 434
To bat: D Thomas, A McCarthy, D Jacobs, *N Miller, J Taylor, R Leveridge.
Fall of wickets: 1-174 (Taylor), 2-269 (Walton), 3-432 (Powell), 4-434 (Campbell).
Bowling: Gabriel 9-0-91-0 (w3), Rampaul 10-0-83-2 (w1), Emrit 8.3-0-78-0 (w3, nb2), Pierre 6.3-0-77-0 (w1), Mohammed 6-1-24-1 (w1), Imran Khan 10-0-69-1 (w2).
RED FORCE
K Hope c Miller b Leveridge 17
E Lewis c wkp Walton b Taylor 18
K Ottley c wkp Walton b Leveridge 1
J Mohammed not out 62
N Alexis lbw b Taylor 0
*+D Ramdin c wkp Walton b Powell 27
I Khan c Blackwood b Powell 6
R Emrit c Taylor b Powell 3
K Pierre c wkp Walton b Powell 2
R Rampaul c wkp Walton b Powell 0
S Gabriel b Taylor 0

Extras (b1, lb1, w4) 6
TOTAL (all out, 26.3 overs) 142
Fall of wickets: 1-26 (Lewis), 2-38 (Hope), 3-39 (Ottley), 4-40 (Alexis), 5-103 (Ramdin), 6-118 (Khan), 7-136 (Emrit), 8-141 (Pierre), 9-141 (Rampaul), 10-142 (Gabriel)
Bowling: Taylor 5.3-0-27-3, Leveridge 5-1-31-2 (w2), Jacobs 3-0-24-0 (w1), Powell 8-1-36-5, Miller 5-0-22-0 (w1)