Maaz Sadaqat produced a sensational display of power hitting to carry the Jamaica Kingsmen within sight of their first Caribbean Premier League final with a nine-wicket thrashing of the Barbados Tridents in their Eliminator contest on Wednesday.
Player-of-the-Match Sadaqat smashed a boundary-studded 112 off just 49 balls, as the Kingsmen easily chased down the Tridents’ inadequate total of 144 for six, romping to 145 for four in just 14.1 overs to disappoint the large home crowd at Kensington Oval.
It was sweet revenge for the Kingsmen, who were defeated by the Tridents twice in the preliminary stage – most recently last Saturday at the same venue.
They now await the winner of Thursday’s Qualifier between the Guyana Amazon Warriors and the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons for a spot in Sunday’s final.
Despite needing to score at just over seven runs an over, Sadaqat was aggressive from the start of his innings, hitting Daniel Sams for a six and four in the first over.
The Tridents missed an opportunity to dismiss him in the next over when he had scored just 12, but substitute wicketkeeper Rivaldo Clarke failed to hold on to an edge behind the stumps off the bowling of spinner Chris Green.
They would pay dearly for the mistake, with Sadaqat smashing AM Ghazanfar for successive fours in the third over and then hoisting Green for a four and six in the following over to see the Kingsmen speed to 46 without loss after four overs, with Sadaqat responsible for 41 of those runs.
The Pakistani reached his half century in sensational fashion off 22 balls by hoisting Ghazanfar for three successive sixes in the fifth over that went for 21 runs.
Another four off Green at the start of the 10th over brought up the Kingsmen’s 100, and Sadaqat subsequently reached his first-ever T20 century off 44 balls with a single to third man off Sams.
In doing so, the 21-year-old became the youngest batter to score a century in the CPL.
By the time Sams had him caught and bowled, he had bludgeoned nine fours and eight sixes and shared an opening partnership of 138 with Kirk McKenzie, who was a virtual bystander throughout the innings.
McKenzie scored an unbeaten 22 off 34 balls to see his side to victory.
An excellent showing with the ball had earlier put the Kingsmen in prime position to advance.
Skipper Rovman Powell held on to a brilliant catch at cover to dismiss Brandon King in the opening over bowled by Hassan Khan without a run on the board.
Andre Russell then produced a snorter that Kevlon Anderson could only edge behind to the wicketkeeper, also for a duck, and he also had Zachary Carter caught behind off a short-pitched delivery to leave the Tridents in tatters at 10 for three in the fourth over.
Shadrack Descrate fell for a two-ball duck, trapped lbw by Hunain Shah and when Sherfane Rutherford was bowled by Saim Ayub for six, the Kingsmen were in complete control at 30 for five.
Quinton de Kock and Green did well to repair the damage during a partnership of 114 runs for the sixth wicket, with de Kock scoring 71 off 49 balls with five fours and two sixes, while Green finished unbeaten on 57 off 44 balls, inclusive of five fours and one six. (CMC)
