Hamilton Parish Hurricanes coach Clay Smith is eyeing a spot in the final when his side take on Sandys Spartans in the Bermuda Smash Invitational semi-finals at North Field, National Sports Centre, on Friday morning (11am).

Hurricanes, the two-times champions, finished second at the conclusion of the group stage after defeating Spartans on the opening day and losing to Pembroke Panthers before their last match against Smith’s Sixers was rained off.

“The plan is to get to the finals and give ourselves a chance to repeat what we’ve done the last two years,” Smith told The Royal Gazette.

“We can't take anything for granted, we have to go out there and execute our plan. We have to do all facets of the game really well.

“We can’t just do one and not the other two. We have to do all three parts of the game really well so that we can be victorious.

“We haven't really come off very good in the power play phase. So we’re going to make some adjustments with that and we’ll go from there.

“The weather has been unpredictable and it’s going to be interesting to see if we get a full 20-over match or if it’s going to be reduced due to the conditions, but we’re ready for whatever comes our way.”

Looking at the opposition, Smith believes that they are coming up against a formidable side in Sandys Spartans.

“They are a very good team,” he said.

“They have some very destructive batsmen and have some players on their own that could single-handedly win the match for them, so we have to field truly well to make sure that we don’t give them any second chance, but I back my bowlers to do well against any line-up in this tournament.”

On what they have been doing during the off days, Smith pointed out that they spend time looking at their potential semi-final opponents.

“We try to just rest, observe and look at the other two teams that will possibly be playing in the semi-finals,” the coach said.

“The coaching staff have had some in-depth discussions about our tactics and how we want to approach the game.

“We are looking forward to it. It is going to be a good challenge, everybody is fit and ready to rock and roll.”

Spartans coach Jeff Richardson is optimistic about his team’s chances against the champions.

“I’m not overly concerned,” Richardson said.

“I think both teams are very well-balanced. They beat us the last time we played them, but we’ve beaten them before.

“We beat them last year and then they ended up beating us in the final. We had a bit of a poor performance against them the first game we played them, but I fancy my chances against them in the semi-finals.

“We lost to them and then we had a really effective match against the Sixers where we had to chase down 145.

“That gave us a bit of momentum. We haven’t quite performed up to our potential just yet and hopefully it will rise to the top this weekend.”

Richardson was keen to point out that teams unbeaten during the group stages have not gone on to win the tournament.

“We’re going to give it our best shot,” he said.

“But strangely enough, among the last two tournaments, the team that won all the group matches didn’t win the final.

“Last year, the team that won all the matches didn’t win the final, which was my team. In 2024, Sixers were unbeaten then Hurricanes went on to win it.”

Richardson would like to see his batters apply themselves better than they have done in their last three matches.

“I think our batting has let us down,” he said.

“I think on Wednesday the wicket was a determining factor in the direction the match went.

“We lost the toss and had we won it we probably would have batted second. We lost the toss and it didn’t quite work out for us.

“We just need to be a little bit more patient with our batting so that we can have more wickets left within the last five or six overs, so we can really have a go at it.

“These last few games, the last four or five overs were basically down to our tail end batsmen, so we haven’t been able to take advantage.”

While his side finished on top of the standings with a flawless record, Panthers coach Cal Waldron is not resting on his laurels. They face Sixers (4pm), who finished at the bottom with no win in three matches.

“Being at the top doesn’t mean anything until you get your hands on the trophy,” Waldron said.