West Indies 4-Day Championships 2024: Harpy Eagles dominate day one of decisive final contest
Raymond Perez hit a brisk half century on Wednesday afternoon
West Indies Championships title hopes are alive and well in the Guyana Harpy Eagles (GHE) camp after an all-round dominating day against the Combined Campuses and Colleges in the seventh and final round of the aforementioned competition.
At the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday morning, the Combined Campuses and Colleges won the toss and opted to bat first. However, they found themselves routed for just 200 runs by a determined Harpy Eagles’ bowling attack.
Nial Smith led the charge for the Guyanese as he destabilized the Combined Campuses’ batting order with two early wickets. Alongside a clinical strike from Isai Thorne, the Harpy Eagles had the Combined Campuses reeling at 9-3. However, a 44-run partnership between Shamarh Brooks and Demario Richards brought back some stability to the Combined Campuses’ batting, but it was short- lived, as the experienced Brooks perished for 16 from 27 deliveries to Veerasammy Permaul, after a switch to the spin attack.
Nial Smith and Veerasammy Permaul took 3 wickets each
Richards persisted, an got into his 40s, but did not have the grit to complete the half-century, and he fell for 43 from 83 balls, while the next best score on the Combined Campuses scorecard of 36 off 63 balls came off the bat of Romario Greaves.
A number of 20-something scores from the Combined Campuses tail proved to be a point of frustration for the Guyanese bowlers, who nonetheless chipped away at the wickets consistently.
Avinash Mahabirsingh contributed 23 from 45 deliveries, Amari Goodridge 22 from 33 balls, and Jediah Blades 22 off 15; while Jarion Hoyte remained unbeaten on 21 from 28 deliveries to push Combined Campuses to 200 all out in 55.5 overs.
Smith ended the innings with 3-45 in 12 overs, while Permaul claimed 3 scalps for 51 runs in 16 overs. Thorne claimed 2-45 in 12 overs, while Gudakesh Motie picked up the other 2.
The Harpy Eagles had their opponents bundled out by tea, and, as such, came back in the final session to cut the required runs in half before close of play.
Raymond Perez was a class act, slamming a brisk half- century in 72 balls. He went on to remain unbeaten on 61* from 89 balls. At the other end, Vice-Captain Kevlon Anderson is also unbeaten on 27 from 56 balls.
Unfortunately, though, Tagenarine Chanderpaul could not stick around, hitting 12 runs before perishing in what was Guyana’s only wicket. As such, the Harpy Eagles ended the day on 114-1 in 28 overs, trailing the Combined Campuses by 86 runs with 9 wickets in hand.
Play resumes at 10:00hrs today for day 2 action.
