Unbeaten Red Force blow away Jaguars to clinch Super50 Cup

– Reifer resists with 97*

It was another episode of “a defeat in the final” for the Guyana Jaguars when the unbeaten Trinidad and Tobago Red Force recorded a 152-run win to lift the CG Insurance Regional Super50 title at Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua.

Riding on the back of Lendl Simmons’s masterful 146, Red Force reached 362-5 in 50 overs, while the Jaguars were blown away for 210 all out in 43.5 overs.
For the first time in this tournament, Red Force were asked to bat first. Seasoned openers Evin Lewis and Lendl Simmons started in fine fashion, adding 121 runs in only 19.4 overs and putting the Guyana Jaguars’ bowlers to the sword. Simmons played with control, while Lewis played with aggression.
Lewis was first to be dismissed, going for a 53-ball 57 which included four sixes and three fours. He was removed by the man with the golden arm, Gudakesh Motie, who took his tally to 17 wickets this season. Motie pegged back the scoring rate for a bit, but Simmons kept his cool and continued his merry way.
He then added 100 runs for the second wicket with the classy Darren Bravo, who hit a 52-ball 47 that included two sixes and three fours.

After Bravo’s departure, the Red Force batsmen kept coming at the Jaguars. While Simmons reached his second century of the season and was reprieved soon after his ton in a leg-before shout to Veerasammy Permaul, Nicholas Pooran took Reifer to the cleaners, slamming a 15-ball 39 which included 4 towering sixes and 3 fours.
After Pooran departed, Captain Kieron Pollard came and supported Simmons, who was eventually dismissed for 146 from 145 balls when he found Hetmyer at mid-off to give the expensive Shepherd his second wicket. Simmons has recorded the highest score in this season, and the highest in the history of the Super50 final. His majestic score included 15 fours and 7 sixes.
Simmons, Pollard and Denesh Ramdin quickly amassed 48 runs as the Red Force surpassed that 350-run mark, the first by any team this season. Pollard was undone by a brilliant yorker from Nial Smith, but the damage was already completed.
Ramdin ended on 27. Shepherd finished with forgettable figures of 2-105 in 10 overs, the highest in the history of this tournament, while Motie was supreme with his 1-43 in 10 overs, as Red Force ended on 362-5 in 50 overs.

In the Jaguars’ chase, things went downhill almost from the start. Tevin Imlach was given leg-before at 17-1, while the prize scalp of Shimron Hetmyer was removed at 40-2. Hetmyer hit a breezy 20 from 12 balls, but the impressive Rampaul peeled off the left-hander’s edge and he was caught behind.
Wickets fell like dominoes. Chandrapaul Hemraj went for 14, caught off a poor short-delivery from Jayden Seales. Leon Johnson came and went for a duck at 44-4, while Christopher Barnwell was undone by another quick short delivery from Seales.
After Shepherd departed at 55-6, Sinclair and Reifer added 39 runs, while Permaul added 38 with Reifer. The Red Force players were buzzing with anticipation, and that extra bit of pressure was evident.
Reifer, however, continued his resistance, and added 71 runs with Motie (28) for the ninth wicket partnership before he was left stranded on his career best 97* as Nial Smith was bowled for a first-ball duck by Seales. Thus the Red Force clinched the title.
Reifer faced 112 balls and scored 7 fours and 3 sixes as he watched Jaguars being bowled out for 210. Rampaul was the pick of the bowlers, ending with 4-52.