Jamaica smash 434 to surge into final

Jamaica piled up 434, the highest total in the Regional Super50 competition, to knock out defending champions Trinidad & Tobago and enter the final. Their 292-run win included centuries from Chadwick Walton and Jermaine Blackwood, but it was Rovman Powell's all-round performance that throttled T&T.

Having won the toss and opted to field, T&T watched as Walton and USA's Steven Taylor shared an opening partnership of 174 which lasted a little over 21 overs. The pair dominated T&T's attack from the outset, taking 25 runs off Ravi Rampaul in the sixth over of the innings and bringing up the century stand in the 12th over. Taylor, who reached his half-century off 35 balls, was eventually dismissed by Jason Mohammed for 88 off 71 balls, having hit five sixes and eight fours in his second fifty of the tournament.

Walton and Blackwood then built on that foundation with a 95-run partnership for the second wicket. Walton brought up his maiden List A hundred off 84 balls and went on to score 117 off 96 balls with nine fours and seven sixes.

Jamaica had reached 269 in the 36th over by the time Walton was dismissed, giving Powell enough of a platform to go after T&T. Powell smashed nine sixes and six fours in his 45-ball 95 during a third-wicket partnership of 163 with Blackwood that came off only 84 balls. Powell reached his half-century off 25 balls and helped Jamaica plunder 128 runs off the last 10 overs to bring up the ninth-highest total in List A cricket. It was also only the second time a team had put up a score of more than 400 in the regional competition. Blackwood, who also scored his maiden List A century, was unbeaten on 108 off 88 balls with six fours and as many sixes.

Any hopes T&T had of chasing down the total were snuffed out by the seventh over when they were tottering at 40 for 4. Denesh Ramdin and Jason Mohammed (62 not out) resisted briefly, adding 63 for the fifth wicket, before Powell's medium-pace wiped out the lower order. The allrounder took five of the last six wickets as T&T were bowled out 142 in 26.3 overs, the fourth-heaviest defeat in List A cricket. Powell took 5 for 26 in his eight overs while Jerome Taylor took 3 for 27.

The second semi-final will be played between Barbados and Leeward Islands on February 16, with the final on February 18.