Sherfane Rutherford, the unbeaten half-century winner of the Indian Premier League (IPL), piloted 22 yards to a comfortable eight-wicket victory over Somerset Cavaliers and to the final of the 2020 US Open T20 tournament yesterday at the Central Broward Regional Park.
22 yards hunted 132 for victory, in a bother spot 28 for two in the fifth over after Guyanese Trevon’s defeat `Bugsy ‘Griffith (16) and Ahad Malek (10).
Griffith was already looking for a big one after he smashed former Test ace Fidel Edwards (0-27) down the ground for a sweetly timed boundary.
However, he was moved by Andre Russell (1-21), who brought Rutherford to the crease.
Rutherford’s left hand got a shaky start after being hit on the glove by Russell and playing and losing a few times. He quickly started by clipping Syed Najafshah off the pads for a sweetly timed maximum to get his pubs going.
He never looked back from there and carved five sixes and three fours en route to his beaten half-century, 69, to see his home side.
Rutherford also shared in an unbeaten 108 stand with Andre McCarthy (35), who kept the Cavaliers at bay.
Early on, after insertion, Cavaliers were limited to 132 for eight of their assigned balloons. Opener Kennar Lewis (41) and Chandrapaul Hemraj (10) set a 31-run platform. However, Guyanese spin trio Ashmead Neath (2-17), Kevin Sinclair (1-30), and Devendra Bishoo (2-31), who had Russel’s precious scalp (8), proved too much for the Somerset side dispute 41 attack by Shawn Findlay.
Today’s final will be 22 yards against either Atlanta Paramveers or US All Starts, who were locked in a fight to press time in the second semi-final.