Harpy Eagles maintain upper hand against Red Force

Mar 17, 2023 Sports

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2023 West Indies Championship…

– Pride collapse; Volcanoes nicely poised

Kaieteur News – Day two in the third round of the 2023 West Indies Championship four-day showdown between Guyana Harpy Eagles and Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) Red Force at the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium in Tarouba, T&T, saw the visiting side arrived at the stumps with the upper hand.

Harpy Eagles lead by 260 runs going into the third day, today, with seven wickets in hand. Yesterday, Red Force had a horrible day with the bat as they were restricted to 160 in 52 overs and left with a 164-run deficit.

The Guyanese unit then took the opportunity to increase the lead and were able to reach 96 – 3 at close of play.

Earlier, T&T resumed from their overnight score of 7 – 0 and moved to 38 when they lost opener Keagan Simmons for 15 to Keemo Paul. Two overs later, Paul completed the job with the openers as he bowled Jeremy Solozano (15) with the score on 51.

Darren Bravo and Jason Mohammed were the new batsmen but their partnership was broken with the score on 59 when Bravo (15) tried to fend off a short delivery from Ronsford Beaton and was caught by Matthew Nandu at short leg.

Mohammed made a resilient even 50, while Amir Jangoo (18) and Jyd Goolie (22) contributed the next two highest scores. Jangoo’s dismissal, which moved the score to 150 – 6, triggered a collapse as the remaining four wickets fell for 10 runs.

Harpy Eagles added valuable Bowling Points with Beaton’s 4 – 31 and Paul’s 3 – 37, while the veteran Veerasammy Permaul could not be denied as he ended with figures of 3 – 36.

When Guyana began their second innings, Tevin Imlach (3) was again removed early to introduce the first bit of pressure; Harpy Eagles were 7 – 1 in 3.1 overs.

Debutant Kevlon Anderson (15) spent a little longer in the middle but his progress was once again halted by Darren Bravo as Guyana lost their second wicket on 31, in the 12^th over.

The other opener, Nandu – Guyana’s only centurion this season, held his focus along with Kemol Savory and took their team to 80, before the opener lost a battle of mental toughness and cut a wide delivery from Imran Khan into the lap of the fielder at point.

Nandu fell for 33, one ball short of the 27^th over, which brought the captain Leon Jonhson to the middle; Guyana were ahead by 245 runs. At close of play Johnson was on 9 and Savory was on 34 after Guyana batted for 34 overs.

Uthman Muhammad was the other wicket taker for T&T, who removed Imlach in both innings.

Volcanoes nicely poised…

The Windward Islands Volcanoes have further heightened their probability for a win against Jamaica Scorpions following two consecutive days of outputting more focused performances than their opponents, at the Guyana National Stadium.

At stumps on the second day, Hurricanes are leading by 414 runs compliments of standout performances by Alick Athanaze and Kaveem Hodge. Athanaze once again came closer to triple figures yesterday but was still not able to reach the milestone as he lost his wicket for 97.

His teammate, Hodge, also missed out on his opportunity to become a centurion when he was dismissed for 82. Justin Greaves (32), Sunil Ambris (23) and Larry Edward (18*) added valuable runs in Volcanoes’ second innings of 298 at the close of play.

Jamaica began the Day on 98 – 7 and were bowled out for 101 in 28.3 overs; Justin Greaves took 6 – 34 while Shermon Lewis and Ryan John supported with two wickets each. That left Jamaica trailing by 116 runs before Volcanoes commenced their second innings.

Pride collapses in second innings…

Following an impressive first day with the bat from defending champion, Barbados Pride, against Leeward Islands Hurricanes, they endured a mixed bag on Day two at the Queen’s Park Oval, T&T, and could be on the verge of their second defeat.

Pride resumed day two on 294 – 8 and were able to reach 322 in 91.5 overs with Shane Dowrich unbeaten on 124, while Rahkeem Cornwall was the pick of the bowlers for Hurricanes with 6 – 50.

Barbados then produced a marvelous bowling performance that saw each of their five bowlers being wicket takers.

Dominic Drakes led with 3 – 38, while Jair McAllister, Shemar Springer and Chaim Holder claimed two wickets apiece and Jonathan Carter snagged the other as Hurricanes were restricted to 154 in 41.6 overs and left with a deficit of 178 runs.

However, an equally impressive combination that featured Cornwall (5 – 19) and Devon Thomas (5 – 22) picking up five wicket hauls caused Barbados to crumble to 78 all out. That means that Hurricanes needs 247 runs for victory. They commenced the chase in the final session and are 13 – 0 at stumps, needing a further 234 to triumph.

Today’s proceedings are set to bowl off at 10:00hrs. All matches are being live streamed on Cricket West Indies’ YouTube channel.

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• Alick Athanaze, Darren Bravo, Devon Thomas, Imran Khan, Ronsford Beaton

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