Trinidad and Tobago will now face Jamaica in the first semi-finals of the Nagico Regional Super50 tournament tomorrow at the Queen's Park Oval, after Barbados defeated Leewards by four wickets to finish as leaders of Group B last night.
Barbados will play Guyana in the second semis on Thursday at the Oval.
Last evening, off-spinner Ashley Nurse with a man of the match performance, snared six wickets for 29 runs to cripple the Leewards and ensured they left this country without a win.
Leewards crashed to 103 all out off 39.5 overs and Barbados struggled to reach the target, losing six wickets in the process.
Kraigg Brathwaite scored a patient 29 not out off 98 balls as they reached the target in 34.5 overs, to claim five points inclusive of a bonus point. With the win Barbados ended on 11 points–one point ahead of T&T.
Earlier, the Leewards won the toss and decided to take first strike on a pitch that was dry and offered assistance to the spinners.
Of all three pitches used for this tournament, this pitch started off as a slowest and is even slower now with the tournament 12 days old.
After a watchful start by the openers, Keiran Powell and Montcin Hodge, the Leewards fell apart. The duo put on 46 the first wicket off 16.5 overs, before Dwayne Smith got the breakthrough sending back Hodge for 14. It was at this point that Nurse took over and the Leewards lost nine wickets for 44 runs. Powell was the main contributor scoring 34 runs off 65 balls with three fours.
SCOREBOARD
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Barbados vs Leewards
Leewards inns
M Hodge c Nurse b Smith 14
K Powell lbw Nurse 34
M Richards c Dowrich b Nurse 7
S Joseph run out 0
D Thomas lbw Benn 17
J Hamilton lbw Nurse 10
H Walsh st Dowrich b Nurse 4
J Athanaze b Nurse 0
L Baker lbw Benn 2
K Welters c Stoute b Nurse 0
A Martin not out 0
Extras 1b, 14w 15
Total all out 103
Fall of wkts: 46, 59, 59, 74, 92, 100, 100, 100, 101, 103.
Bowling: J Holder 5-0-13-0, F Edwards 4-0-14-0, C Brathwaite 5-0-15-0, D Smith 5-1-10-1, K Stoute 2-0-6-0, A Nurse 10-2-29-6, S Benn 8.5-2-15-2.
Barbados inns
K Brathwaite not out 29
D Smith b Walters 5
R Boucher lbw Martin 25
J Carter lbw Martin 3
K Stoute lbw Baker 13
S Dowrich c Thomas b Baker 2
C Brathwaite b Walters 12
A Nurse not out 3
Extras 7lb, 5w 12
Total for 6 wkts 104
Fall of wkts: 6, 51, 61, 74, 83, 98.
Bowling: L Baker 7.5-0-40-2, K Walters 4-1-10-2, J Athanaze 10-2-17-0, A Martin 10-5-8-2, Hayden Walsh 2-0-15-0, M Richards 1-0-7-0.
Result: Barbados won by four wickets.
Man of match: Ashley Nurse.