LUCAS STREET, Barbados (CMC) – Roston Chase stroked his maiden regional one-day hundred but rain had the final say as title-holders Barbados Pride formally booked their spot in the Regional Super50 semi-finals with a 17-run victory over English County Hampshire here yesterday.
Sent in at the Windward Cricket Club, Pride racked up 253 for six before rain ended their innings at the rural eastern venue, with four balls remaining in their allotted 50 overs.
Chase stroked 105 from 120 balls while all-rounder Shamar Springer hit 49 and captain Kraigg Brathwaite, 42.
Former Barbados and West Indies speedster Fidel Edwards bowled outstandingly to finish with four for 35.
Set a revised target of 198 off 31 overs, Hampshire were 107 or five when the rains arrived to end play prematurely, still 17 runs short of the Duckworth/Lewis par score of 124.
Opener Joe Weatherley was leading Hampshire’s revival with an unbeaten 54 as the remainder of the batting struggled.
Off-spinner Ashley Nurse was the leading wicket-taker with three for 37.
It was Chase who grabbed the headlines early on, however, with a knock that underpinned the Pride batting effort.
The Test right-hander, batting at number four, struck seven fours and two sixes and anchored a couple of handy partnerships to lift the innings out of trouble.
Pride suffered two early blows when the pacy Edwards removed left-handed opener Omar Phillips (4) and Jonathan Carter (8) cheaply inside the first five overs.
However, Chase partnered with Brathwaite in a 95-run, third-wicket stand, before adding a furrther 117 for the fourth wicket with Springer, to put Pride back on top.
Brathwaite faced 80 balls and struck four fours before he played on to Edwards in the 28th over and Springer counted two fours and a six in a 56-ball knock before cutting seamer Gareth Berg to point in 46th over.
Chase was fifth out in the 47th over, bowled missing a drive at pacer Bradley Wheal.
Hampshire’s run chase was put immediately under pressure when they lost Thomas Alsop in the fifth over, caught behind for four driving at pacer Chemar Holder with the score on 24.
Captain James Adams followed four overs later for 15, caught at extra cover off Nurse and when Sean Ervine (6) and Lewis McManus (1) fell in successive overs, Hampshire were languishing on 64 for four in the 13th over.
Weatherley, who faced 70 balls and struck three fours and a six, added 23 for the fifth wicket with Calvin Dickinson (11) and was involved in a 20-run stand with Bradley Taylor (9 not out) when the rains arrived.
