Hero’s welcome meets West Indies champions Harpy Eagles on return

There were nail-biting scenes in Trinidad and Tobago on Saturday last, as time winded down on the Windward Islands Volcanoes and the Leeward Islands Hurricanes in their championship-deciding clash.
As close of play and a draw were announced for that game, Guyana’s victory in the 2024 West Indies Championship was confirmed after pulling off an eight-wicket win over Combined Campuses and Colleges a day earlier.
The championship winning team returned to local shores late on Sunday night into Monday morning, and was greeted by several stakeholders, including Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr and Director of Sport (DoS) Steve Ninvalle, against the backdrop of music and dance.
Harpy Eagles Head Coach Ryan Hercules chronicled the team’s journey this season, labelling them the best in the Caribbean.

Hercules related, “I think it was good cricket from us. I think we are one of the best teams in the Region, as it is now. I’ve seen so many wonderful performances from batters, from bowlers, all-round cricket, even before we left to go out on this venture, we would’ve thought it was a young side and we thought it was a good development process. But I think, to where we are now, I must say job well done to the guys coming back home as champions.
“From where we started off playing Trinidad and Tobago and we’re 2 points or 3 points on the table and then we play against Leeward and we lost. I think the victory coming from the back end, to where we are now, I think it shows character in terms of what we have going forward as a franchise,” the GHE Head Coach added.
Sharing similar sentiments regarding Guyana’s superiority in the Region was Sport Minister Ramson Jr who expressed his pride in the team.
“The fact that you were able to come together as a unit, with the pressures of starting slow and still bring home the hardware, it shows that we have heart-ware. So, it’s teamwork and teams that make dreams real,” the Sport Minister initially stated.
Ramson Jr went on to state, “I can’t say how proud I am of you, I can’t say enough how proud I am of you. It’s a privilege. This is not hard for me to do here, sacrifice what I’m doing right now to come up here to welcome you, it’s a privilege, it’s an honour. We are extremely pleased to be here to welcome you, to support you so that you and our team can continue to be the best in the region and to become the best in the world.”
Winning his first 4-Day Championship as a new Captain, Tevin Imlach highlighted that his team deserved the win for their efforts.
“To have the Ministers here and to show appreciation and celebration for the achievement of these cricketers and what we’ve achieved as players. You know, it wasn’t easy, definitely had our ups and downs. It was challenging, but we’re growing as a team and we’re growing as individuals, so happy to see where we started and where we at now. Hats off to the guys, they showed a lot of character throughout this tournament and it was brilliant to see,” Imlach shared.
The Harpy Eagles accumulated 103.8 points over 7 rounds for first place, while the Windward islands Volcanoes were second with 98.2 points. Leeward Islands Hurricanes ended fourth with 94 points. The Harpy Eagles pocketed a whopping US$250,000 for the win.