'Maybe the best one that I've played' - Powell pleased with match-winning CPL bash

Powell took Jamaica Kingsmen into the final and knocked out Guyana Amazon Warriors, finalists in each of the last three editions (and winners in 2023). Hetmyer's innings might have become a bit of a footnote at the end of it, but Powell sharing the Player-of-the-Match award with him - "a really, really special player" - was some consolation.

"It's special, you know, a really, really special player to come off in a playoff game like this with his entire country on his back - the pressure you get for Guyana when he don't score - and to turn around that from last a few nights ago and come and score a hundred is fantastic," Powell, the Kingsmen captain, said of Hetmyer in the post-match presentation ceremony. "He's a world-class player, and it's just unfortunate that he came out on the losing end."

Turning to his own innings, Powell didn't have to think much before calling it possibly the best he has played in this CPL.

"I think, maybe it is the best one that I've played. It's the most impactful, to be honest, and it's good to get such an impactful innings in a playoff game that puts us in the final," he said. "You know, I've always, as a captain, wanted to lead from the front. Tonight provided an opportunity for me to do that, and I'm just grateful that I was able to."

When the 18th over of the chase began, Powell was on 15 from eight balls and Kingsmen still needed 34 runs from three overs. First ball, Powell lashed out at Imran Tahir, the ageless Amazon Warriors captain, and the ball flew to Mavendra Dindyal at deep midwicket. The fielder was at the rope, he caught it, lost his balance, and tossed the ball to Khary Pierre, who collected it. Tahir was off on a celebratory sprint, but Dindyal was found to have stepped on the rope before releasing the ball.

"Yeah, look, probably the catch," Tahir said when asked about the turning point of the game. "I don't want to put pressure on the youngster, you know, he tried his best. It's always a difficult one. But in that situation, I think that catch was very valuable for our team. And it could have been a different story."

Powell also hit a four off that over, collecting 15 in total, and that left them with 19 to get from 12 balls, which they got to with two balls in hand. Though it often doesn't matter in crunch moments in T20s, Tahir started that over with a very favourable record against Powell: since the start of 2022 before this game, Tahir had got Powell out five times in ten T20 innings from 45 balls, conceding just 51 runs along the way.

"I think when you're batting to survive, your intent is different from when you're batting to really score," Powell said of the face-off. "At that point, I felt as if I would have the better of him because I'm not looking to survive. The googly is a threat, and once I get close to the googly, I back myself to hit it for six."

For Kingsmen, it has been a spectacular turnaround after starting their first season in the CPL with three successive losses. And they have done it without their biggest star, Andre Russell, really coming into his own with the bat: an innings of 68 from 38 balls against Barbados Tridents has been only contribution of note, with 87 runs coming in his seven other innings.

"I'm feeling good to see a franchise come back to Jamaica and we're in the final," Powell said. "At the start of the competition, we set out the three goals. To get into the playoffs as a new franchise. And when we get into the playoffs, see if we can squeeze into the final. We have achieved two of those. We'll push for the next one.

"It started out with us losing three games early in the competition, and in the middle of the competition, we found some form, some confidence, realised that we can play cricket as a bunch. We just wanted to squeeze into the playoffs because we know once you get a Jamaica team into the playoffs, they're dangerous."