West Indies 4-Day Championships 2024: Harpy Eagles in 8-wicket win over CCC
– make case for title retention, as champion to be determined after today’s games
The Harpy Eagles await their fate today after a necessary victory against CCC
The Guyana Harpy Eagles (GHE) on Friday cruised to a comfortable 8-wicket win over the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) to conclude their 2024 West Indies 4-Day Championships campaign on a positive note.
However, whether the defending champions would retain the title still hangs in the balance, and would be decided after the results of two other games — Windward Islands Volcanoes versus Leeward Islands Hurricanes, and Barbados Pride versus West Indies Academy – are known.
The Harpy Eagles wrapped up their final clash of the season inside three days, compliments of back-to-back fifties from Captain Tevin Imlach and Raymond Perez, alongside Nial Smith’s ensuring the CCC’s undoing on Friday morning.
Combined Campuses resumed Day 3 on 165 for 7, with Shamarh Brooks and Avinash Mahabirsingh at the crease on 54 and 4 runs respectively.
Raymond Perez slammed his second first-class half-century
However, Isai Thorne wasted no time in cutting down Mahabirsingh, having him caught behind in just the second ball of the morning session.
Brooks also did not get much further, falling to Smith for 59 from 128 deliveries four overs later. Nonetheless, the two remaining batters: Jarion Hoyte and Jediah Blades, gave their team some impetus by putting on a 29-run partnership for the final wicket. Blades remained not out on 11 runs from 13 balls, but Hoyte’s innings of 22 from 34 deliveries was cut short when Smith had him caught behind.
With CCC bowled out for 203 in 64.2 overs, Guyana needed 181 for victory, and the first-wicket partnership between Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Raymond Perez looked solid, before and after what turned out to be a lengthy rain delay on Friday afternoon.
After the covers came off, the duo pressed on, but Chanderpaul fell short of a half century as he hit an uncharacteristically brisk 42 runs in 62 balls. By that time, Perez had already brought up his second first- class half-century, spanning 69 deliveries, in the very match that he reached the milestone for the first time.
Captain Imlach joined Perez at the crease, and they took Guyana within 7 runs of their target. The Harpy Eagles captain perished, but not before hitting his second fifty of the game.
Kevlon Anderson was in a hurry to get things over with, and, with a pair of boundaries in the 35th over, sealed the Harpy Eagles’ 5th consecutive win in this year’s 4-Day Championships.
Windward Islands Volcanoes currently sit atop the points table, with Barbados Pride, Harpy Eagles and Leeward Islands mere points behind. As such, today’s results of those two games would determine whether or not the Harpy Eagles retain their title.
