Part-time left-arm medium-pacer Brendan Nash starred with a four-wicket burst to lead Jamaica to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Guyana in the first semi-final of the KFC Cup in Bridgetown. This was the first competitive day-night match at the Three Ws Oval, and was reduced to 43 overs a side because of a wet outfield.
In front of a crowd of around 2000, Guyana chose to bat and were looking good at 67 for 1 before Nash, turning in his second consecutive Man-of-the-Match performance, dismissed three batsmen at the same team score: first, he bowled wicketkeeper Darwin Christian, then trapped Narsingh Deonarine in front and got Assad Fudadin to nick one to Carlton Baugh.
With wickets falling around him, Sewnarine Chattergoon held firm with a fighting 66 off 99 balls, but didn't find enough support: the second-highest scorer was Neil McGarrell with 17. After Guyana slumped again, from 122 from 5 to 134 for 9, a 25-run last-wicket stand took them to 159, still way off a competitive total.
The early loss of his captain Chris Gayle in the Jamaican chase didn't deter Brenton Parchment who scored a brisk 35 before being dismissed lbw by McGarrell. Nash fell soon after, but Shawn Findlay and Danza Hyatt stitched together an 88-run partnership to complete the one-sided win.
After the match, Nash played down his performance and praised his team-mates' bowling. "The scoreboard will show that I had the best figures, but I got a lot of assistance from the guys at the other end," he said. "We played brilliantly as a team."
Jamaica will face the winner of Friday's clash between Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, in Sunday's final.