Jo­hann Je­re­mi­ah fell ag­o­nis­ing­ly short of the first ever West In­dies Break­out League cen­tu­ry, but his per­for­mance was good enough to se­cure a play­off spot for the Wind­ward Is­lands In­fer­nos fol­low­ing their 86-run vic­to­ry over the Ja­maica Ti­tans at the Bri­an Lara Crick­et Acad­e­my on Tues­day.

Je­re­mi­ah blud­geoned 97 from just 50 balls, in­clu­sive of eight six­es and sev­en fours, as the In­fer­nos post­ed 211 for six from their 20 overs at the Bri­an Lara Crick­et Acad­e­my, the high­est to­tal of the tour­na­ment so far.

The Ti­tans nev­er chal­lenged the tar­get af­ter los­ing five wick­ets in­side the Pow­er Play and were even­tu­al­ly bowled out for 125 in 18 overs.

With the win, the In­fer­nos leapfrogged Bar­ba­dos Pel­i­cans (20 points) – who have played all of their match­es – in­to sec­ond po­si­tion on 22 points with one match left to play.

The top-of-the-ta­ble Trinidad and To­ba­go Le­gions (31 points) are al­ready in the play­offs, mean­ing that the third and fi­nal play­off spot will be de­ter­mined when the In­fer­nos play the fourth placed Lee­ward Is­lands Thun­der (19 points) on Wednes­day.

While vic­to­ry for the Thun­der will see them ad­vance and knock out the Pel­i­cans, there is al­so a pos­si­bil­i­ty they could still ad­vance even if they lose, based on the bonus points sys­tem.

The In­fer­nos got off to a blaz­ing start thanks to two ma­jor part­ner­ships at the top of the or­der.

First­ly, cap­tain Al­ick Athanaze and Je­re­mi­ah put on 88 runs for the first wick­et in 11 overs, and when the for­mer fell for 34, Je­re­mi­ah and Ted­dy Bish­op blast­ed 54 runs in just three overs to put them well on their way to post­ing a sig­nif­i­cant to­tal.

Just three runs away from a his­toric cen­tu­ry, Je­re­mi­ah was bowled by off spin­ner Ra­maal Lewis, to leave the In­fer­nos 142 for two af­ter 14 overs.

The In­fer­nos would lose their way slight­ly af­ter his dis­missal, with Shadrack Descarte and Dil­lon Dou­glas and Ryan John all falling cheap­ly.

How­ev­er, Bish­op, who scored 44 from 22 balls, helped them be­come the first team to pass the 200-run mark.

For the Ti­tans, Jeav­or Roy­al took 2-19 and An­tho­ny Dack­ers 2-33.

The Ti­tans’ run chase was over al­most as soon as it be­gan with pac­ers John and Keon John­son split­ting the wick­ets of Leroy Lugg, Jor­dan John­son, Kirk McKen­zie and An­drew Ram­baran to leave them in tat­ters at 26 for four.

It was a po­si­tion they would nev­er re­cov­er, de­spite a fight­ing 35 by Deeth­mar An­der­son and 25 from Lewis.

Gas­ton, John and Darel Cyrus, all took two wick­ets for the In­fer­nos.

CMC

Sum­marised scores

WIND­WARD IS­LANDS IN­FER­NOS 211-6 in 20 overs (Jo­hann Je­re­mi­ah 97, Ted­dy Bish­op 44, Al­ick Athanaze 34, Noelle Leo 14 not out; Jeav­or Roy­al 2-19, An­tho­ny Dack­ers 2-33) vs JA­MAICA TI­TANS 125 in 18 overs (Deeth­mar An­der­son 35, Ra­maal Lewis 25, Jeav­or Roy­al 12, Bri­an Barnes 12; Keon Gas­ton 2-14, Ryan John 2-15, Darel Cyrus 2-16).

Wind­ward Is­lands In­fer­nos won by 86 runs.