West Indies Championships-Anderson century, Looknauth five-fer lead GHE to 10- wicket win
A five-fer from Richie Looknauth overshadowed a batting meltdown of sorts on the part of the Guyana Harpy Eagles (GHE), as a clinical performance with the ball in the second innings led the Guyanese to an opening victory in the West Indies Championships’ first round.
Richie Looknauth took a five-fer on Friday for 9 wickets in his debut match
The Harpy Eagles resumed day 3 of the 4-day encounter on Friday morning on 315-3 after a solid day of batting on Thursday, with Kevlon Anderson and Kemol Savory both in sight of centuries.
However, a heartbreaking twist saw Savory giving it all away one run short of the milestone, as he edged Matthew Forde’s bowling to the Barbadian keeper. Savory added only 4 runs to his overnight total of 95, having faced 144 balls.
Forde kept up his momentum and managed to rattle Richie Looknauth’s stumps for a duck in the very next ball; but incoming batsman Ronaldo Alimohamed was solid enough to see out Forde’s pace and go on to register a quickfire 35 runs in 32 balls.
Kevlon Anderson hit his third First-Class century
He also gave Anderson the necessary support to reach his third first-class century and first for the Harpy Eagles. Anderson reached the milestone in 154 balls, but fell for 101 off 157 deliveries after hitting a whopping 15 boundaries.
There was little else to get from the remainder of the Harpy Eagles’ batters, as the remaining three were bundled out for just six runs between them. And because Isai Thorne could not take to the crease, the Harpy Eagles ended their innings on 382-9 in 101.5 overs, accumulating a 36-run lead.
Kemol Savory was one run short of a century
Matthew Forde led the Barbadian charge at the Guyana National Stadium by snaring 5-69 from 19.5 overs, while Jair McAllister took 2-68 from 13 overs.
What the Guyanese could not have imagined was how easily they would be able to bundle out Barbados in the second innings, especially considering their aggression with the bat in the first innings. Ronaldo Alimohamed and Nial Smith began with two early wickets up front, sending back the Barbadian openers with the score at 7-2.
Captain Raymon Reifer and Jonathan Drakes sought to repair the damage with a 42- run partnership, but Drakes could manage only 26 from 45 before becoming Alimohamed’s second scalp of the day.
Then Looknauth got to work with the ball as he went on to claim 5 wickets in short order. As such, the last 6 Barbadian batsmen could only combine for 14 runs, as Hurricane Looknauth spun through them.
Reifer was eventually his team’s top-scorer in that innings, hitting 37 from 89 balls while Kevin Wickham pitched in with 22 from 51 for the last double-digit score on the cards.
Ronaldo Alimohamed supported Looknauth with two wickets on Friday
Looknauth had returns of 5-23 from 11.4 overs; Alimohamed picked up 2-36 from 9 overs, while Nial Smith and Veerasammy Permaul each took a wicket.
Guyana’s proficient bowling attack routed the visitors for 112 in 41.4 overs, leaving the hosts a 77-run target for victory. Openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Matthew Nandu cruised to the target in the final session of the day, sealing the 10- wicket victory for Guyana with a day to spare. While the Barbadian bowlers sought to find answers and wickets, Chanderpaul hit 40 off 93 balls and Nandu got 33 in 75 deliveries to get to 78 in 28 overs.
With their first win already in the bag, the Harpy Eagles would next turn their attention to the Combined Campuses and Colleges, against whom they will contest from Wednesday, February 5 at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, East Bank Demerara (EBD).
