Hetmyer century in vain as Powell powers Kingsmen to CPL final
Kingsmen won by 5 wickets (with 2 balls remaining)
Player Of The Match
, JAK
40* (17)
Cricinfo's MVP
, GAW
Rovman Powell dealt almost exclusively in big hits • CPL T20
Jamaica Kingsmen 207 for 5 (Carty 56, Sadaqat 41, Powell 40*, McKenzie 34, Pretorius 2-37) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 206 for 4 (Hetmyer 102*, Hope 40, Hassan 1-25) by five wickets
Amazon Warriors had topped the table at the end of the league with eight wins in ten games. But the 99 all out against Barbados Tridents in their last league-stage game was almost a sign of things to come, as they then folded for 76 against Antigua and Barbuda Falcons in Qualifier 1. This time, Hetmyer smashed 102 not out off 45 balls to change that trend, but Kingsmen ensured it was Amazon Warriors' third loss in a row, and the unkindest one yet, as it cost them a place in the final despite being in the contest almost all the way through.
Partnerships with the bat, not always talked about in T20s, did the job for Kingsmen.
Chasing 207 for victory, Kingsmen got an excellent start courtesy Sadaqat, a century-maker in the previous game, and McKenzie, the openers, who added 42 runs in just three overs before Sadaqat was the first to be dismissed, by Dwaine Pretorius.
McKenzie and Carty got together, couldn't score as quickly, but still got 48 in 32 balls before McKenzie was dismissed by Imran Tahir.
Another 62-run stand followed, off just 41 balls, between Carty and Saim Ayub, and after Ayub was the third man gone, Powell added 20 in ten balls with Carty and then 31 in 15 with Andre Russell. By the time Russell became the fifth wicket, Powell, and Kingsmen, needed just four runs in four balls. A pair of twos from Hassan Khan, earlier Kingsmen's best bowler, finished the job.
All said, it really did come down to Powell. When he walked out at the fall of Ayub's wicket in the 16th over, Kingsmen were still 55 runs away with 29 balls to go. He started slowly but got stuck into Khary Pierre in the 17th over, hitting two sixes in the first four balls to get going. Carty was run out in that over for 56 in 40 balls, but Powell carried on, hitting Imran Tahir for another six in the next over, and then taking Shamar Joseph for a four and a six in the 19th. So dominant was Powell that Russell's struggle to get going - he scored 2 in five balls - at a crucial point in the chase didn't hurt Kingsmen. Powell finished with 40 in 17 balls.
Earlier, Amazon Warriors were asked to bat and were on the back foot straightaway, losing Mohammad Haris and Mavendra Dindyal, the openers, inside five overs. Haris was the first to go, a bullet thrown from mid-on from Hassan catching him short at the non-striker's end, and Hassan the bowler then got rid of Dindyal, caught at deep square-leg.
But from that point, 4.2 overs, to 12.3 overs, it was all Amazon Warriors. Or all Hetmyer. His stand with Shai Hope for the third wicket was worth 96 runs. Hetmyer scored 55 of those in 23 balls. Hope contributed 38 in 27, continuing with his role as the middle-order anchor for Amazon Warriors, though a few more runs from him there might have changed the result.
Hetmyer then stitched together a partnership of 65 in 33 balls with Quentin Sampson, who scored 29 in 17, before getting to his century off the last ball of the innings, slicing Russell over short third for a four to reach the mark. It was Hetmyer's second century this season and third in the CPL overall.
Kingsmen, in their debut CPL season, will face Falcons in the final on Sunday.
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