Volcanoes final-wicket pair frustrates Guyana Harpy Eagles
Windward Islands Volcanoes ended the first day of their Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional Four-Day championships on a positive note against the Guyana Harpy Eagles at Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago.
The Volcanoes were 277-9 after 89 overs, with final pair Preston McSween and Sherman Lewis adding a valuable 62 runs. Keemo Paul, Veerasammy Permaul, and Gudakesh Motie had picked up three wickets each.
Keemo Paul swung the ball early
Earlier, Volcanoes won the toss and elected to bat first. Veteran Devon Smith struck a composed half-century, his 64th at the First-Class level. The 40-year-old, who played 43 Tests for the West Indies, struck nine fours in the 87 balls he faced.
Young Alick Athnaze made a career-best 68 from 134 balls, featuring in a 49-run partnership with Smith for the second wicket. Kimani Melius was struck down by a Clinton Pestano bouncer and retired hurt. While skipper Kaveem Hodge fell cheapy for 10, caught at slips off Paul, Keron Cottoy added 62 runs with Athnaze.
Veerasammy Permaul had three wickets
Cottoy struck six fours in his 39. At one stage, Volcanoes were 190-4, but the likes of Motie, Permaul, and Paul made inroads. Things quickly went downhill as Volcanoes slumped to 215-9 in 72.2 overs. Harpy Eagles were looking to wrap things up, but the final pair of Preston McSween and fellow pacer Sherman Lewis added an unbroken 62 runs. McSween was unbeaten on 47 from 54 balls, slamming two sixes and four fours.
He took a liking to Test spinner Permaul and he evaded the short stuff from the Harpy Eagles pacers. Motie ended with 3-61 from 24 overs, Permaul had 3-75 from 23 overs, and Paul claimed 3-63 from 20 overs. Harpy Eagles will want to close off the Volcanoes innings when the second day bowls off from 10:00h Eastern Caribbean time.
