(CMC) – Exciting all-rounder Rovman Powell has given the assurance Jamaica Scorpions will be ready for their clash with Barbados Pride in today’s final of the Regional Super50.The 23-year-old was one of the stars for his side as they clobbered two-time reigning champions Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in Wednesday’s first semi-final by 292 runs, to surge into the championship game.
“We are focusing on what we have control over and how we as a team play and once we play good enough cricket – each and everyone in the team come to the party – I think Jamaica Scorpions have a very good chance of lifting the title,” the West Indies player said.
“It’s just for us now to regroup and come again. There’s not a lot a time before the final so it’s always important to keep that competitive edge about us going into the final.”
Powell produced a man-of-the-match performance, slamming a scintillating 95 to help Scorpions amass a regional record 434 for four off their 50 overs at Coolidge Cricket Ground.
Though opener Chadwick Walton (117) and Jermaine Blackwood (108 not out) struck maiden centuries, it was Powell’s astonishing exhibition of hitting that took Scorpions past 400.
He faced just 45 deliveries and belted six fours and nine sixes, in an entertaining 163-run third-wicket partnership with Blackwood.
“I couldn’t ask for a better game. I think the team played well and the team gave me the (support) to come out and execute what I did. So all kudos go to the team,” he pointed out.
“It wasn’t easy. We came up against a lot of experienced bowlers in the Trinidad unit but the platform was laid for a person like me with a little bit of power and I think I did my talent and my team justice.
“What I did was take a few balls first (before) I got going and after I got going, I could expand and go big.”
Powell then returned with his varied medium pace to snatch five for 36 and complete a brilliant all-round performance, as Red Force crashed for just 142.
The haul was his maiden five-wicket effort in 50-overs competition and he said he had made use of a wicket which played to his strengths.
“To be honest, the wicket suited me,” he noted.
“It was not the fastest wicket and once the wicket isn’t fast, medium pacers who bowl a lot of cutters and use their fingers on the ball can get a lot of assistance because it’s not a fast wicket so some of the balls will grip and some will slide through.
“It was a matter of coming out here and executing.”