Barbados lost the match by five runs, but the controversial run-out of their swashbuckling captain and management's seeming lack of concern about important calculations nearly cost them a place in the semifinals.
In pursuit of a target of 210 from 49 overs on a Sabina Park pitch that played better than the previous day, Barbados were moving confidently along when Philo Wallace was smashing his way to his third successive score of over 50 before fortunes shifted.
The loss meant that net run rate was required to determine the two semifinalists from a three-way tie at the top of Zone 2.
The Leeward Islands topped the group with a rate of 1.21 and will meet Trinidad and Tobago, who were second in Zone 1, played in Guyana. Barbados, who will meet Zone 1 winners Guyana, had a rate of 0.88 with hosts Jamaica losing out at 0.72.
The semi-finals will be played this weekend at Kaiser on Jamaica's north coast.
But back to the match. In order to keep ahead of Jamaica, Barbados needed to score at least 197.
They achieved it with five balls to spare and two wickets intact, but the team had no idea until about the 40th over of the innings when skipper Wallace hurried over to the Press Box at the opposite side of the ground.
During the break between innings, Barbadian reporters were emphatically trying to point out to team manager Tony Howard what the equation would have been, but he brushed them aside, saying he had no interest in such calculations until after the match.
As it turned out, the approach by seasoned batsmen in the middle of the innings suggested they too were unaware of the situation.
Antonio Mayers, who played a crucial part in the end after Barbados lost their way, later said the 197 figure was only mentioned to him when he was about to leave the pavilion in the 45th over.
The turning point of the Barbados innings was the decision given against Wallace. Trying to complete a second run with Franklyn Rose charging in from deep mid-wicket, Wallace appeared to have made his ground at the keeper's end.
Not even the usually boisterous Jamaican spectators showed much interest and almost everyone was surprised when umpire Thomas Wilson, standing at point, raised his index finger. Commentator Michael Holding, who was on radio at the time, said Wilson had made an error.
Wallace, who belted eight fours and a six in his 59 off 74 balls, showed his annoyance.
He departed at 105 for three in the 24th over with Barbados up with the asking rate. But Floyd Reifer, Roland Holder and Courtney Browne struggled against the off-spin of Nehemiah Perry and Chris Gayle to the extent that only 40 runs were scored between the 25th and 40th overs.
Reifer needed 68 balls for 27, Holder 53 balls for the same score, and Browne 28 balls for 11. Reifer had his middle stump knocked out behind his back, while Holder, Browne and Winston Reid fell to ambitious shots to leave Barbados on 171 for seven after 45.3 overs.
It needed the level heads of Mayers and Hendy Bryan, batting with a runner because of a groin injury, to revive the innings with a decisive stand of 24 in 14 balls.
The 18-year-old Mayers made 10 from nine balls. Bryan, who hit the qualifying runs off Rose (who gave away 12 runs in the 47th over), was run out off the penultimate ball for 20 off 14 balls.
Earlier Jamaica, who won the toss, crawled along for the first half of the innings, pinned back by a slow pitch and tight, incisive fast bowling from Pedro Collins and Bryan.
The pacers were backed up by the exceptional wicket-keeping of Courtney Browne who was involved in the dismissals of both openers after Jamaica had posted 47 for the first wicket.
It wasn't until Wavell Hinds and newcomer Howard Harris came together that the innings picked up momentun.
Hinds, Jamaica's topscorer for the second straight game, was starting to play with some command before hitting a catch to cover off Bryan with his score 47.
The most important runs in the innings came from lower order hitters Perry and Brian Murphy, who added 45 in 6.3 overs to revive Jamaica's hopes.