Barbados Cricket Association article.
Bridgetown, Barbados - Jamaican opener John Campbell struck a commanding century for cock-a-hoop CGI Maple in a big 122-run win over YMPC, while Ryan Nurse starred with both bat and ball as LIME "disconnected" title holders Sagicor Life UWI by 57 runs in the semi-finals of the 2013 BCA Sagicor General Super Cup championship.
And the attention will next turn to Kensington Oval on Saturday, December 14 as Maple, in what will be their sixth limited overs final, seek to atone for last year's painful six-run defeat, while LIME will be appearing in their fifth final and first since 2009 when they lost to Carlton.
Maple would also want to crown what has been their most marked all-round season with another piece of silverware, having won the prestigious LIME Elite three-day title and finishing runners-up to UWI in the Sagicor General Twenty20 championship roughly two months ago.
Today, left-hander Campbell, a member of the third intake of students at the Barbados-based Sagicor West Indies High Performance Centre (HPC) and whose players have unquestionably been enjoying parading in local domestic competitions unlike the previous two batches who were not given that luxury, scored 118 in an imposing total of 261 for four off 49 overs at Beckles Road.
Man-of-the-Match Campbell featured in a memorable second wicket partnership of 182 in 37.3 overs with former Barbados Under-19 team player, Shane Parris, who made 67 after Maple won the toss.
Once they had lost their most acclaimed player and the leading run-getter in the current tournament, Dwayne Smith, to the second ball of the innings from former Barbados captain and West Indies pacer Corey Collymore, YMPC knew a revised target of 270 under the Duckworth-Lewis method would be a tough ask.
Their batsmen became bogged down against a combination of pace and spin, the latter in the hands of the wily Jed Yearwood with his off-breaks and by the 16th over, they were struggling on 46 for four.
Experienced all-rounder Ryan Wiggins, who topscored with 52 off 76 balls, added 73 in 19 overs with Kemar Smith for the fifth wicket but the dismissal of Wiggins led to a slump as the last six wickets crashed for 28 runs in 6.5 overs.
Yearwood, bowling on a ground he is familiar with as a YMPC player for five consecutive seasons starting in 2007, sent down his full allotment of ten overs on the trot from the southern end to finish with three for 22.
He has now overtaken Collymore as the most economical bowler all told (eight wickets to qualify), conceding just 2.45 runs per over, while picking up nine scalps at an average of 14.44.
Seamer Khalid Springer took two for 13 off six overs, while left-arm spinner Jamar "Butter Beans" Griffith had two for 41 off ten overs to surpass another left-arm spinner, Derick Bishop, the Republic Bank St. Catherine captain, as the bowler with the most wickets (18) at an average of 11.22, and an economy rate of 3.87.
Campbell is now the third HPC player to score a century in the tournament this season, carrying the number of hundreds to 11 in the face of a woeful early half when rain resulted in 25 of 39 matches ending in no-decisions.
The other two members of the HPC with centuries - Tyrone Theophile and Adrian Barath - both represented Barbados Defence Force Sports Programme (BDFSP).
Pre-match favourites UWI, looking to further decorate their already impressive cabinet of silverware including all three major titles last year (Elite, Sagicor General T20 and Super Cup), were stunned on home turf.
As fate would have it, UWI were without their top all-rounder Jonathan Carter, who was dropped for disciplinary reasons by a management team including his cousin and captain Carlos Brathwaite.
And Carter was at Beckles Road in the comfort of the Pavilion to see the final rites of YMPC who were appearing in their first semi-final since October 6, 2007, when they lost to UWI by six wickets, also at Beckles Road.
Ryan Nurse, a truly massive man whose nickname has changed from "Chicken Breast" to "Burger", devoured UWI on a hot, sunny day.
With LIME limping on 128 for seven off 40 overs after they were sent in, the 30-year-old Nurse, who bats left-handed and bowls right-arm fast-medium, produced a typically robust innings to topscore with 31 not out off 37 balls in a total of 176 for eight off 50 overs. He struck two sixes.
Nurse, who has played regional first-class, 50-over and T20 matches since his debut 11 years ago, but has been in the wilderness since 2008, then returned with the ball to put UWI under early pressure.
He took two of the first five wickets as UWI slumped to 56 for five after 20 overs.
Wickets continued to fall steadily before they were bowled out for 119 in 38.5 overs.
Guyanese Steven Jacobs topscored with exactly 50 off 64 balls, hitting three sixes and one four. He was last out.
Ryan Nurse finished with the impressive figures of four for 16 off 8.5 overs to be the undisputed Man-of-the-Match, while off-spinners Amory Holder and Daley Hurley each took two for 13 and 19.