West Indies 4-Day Championships 2024: Mahabirsingh leads CCC fightback against GHE

Day 2 started as a challenging one for the Guyana Harpy Eagles in their West Indies 4-Day Championships clash with the Combined Campuses and Colleges, but the local team did as they have done the entirety of the 2024 season: staged a comeback.
The seventh-round fixtures headed into the second of four days at the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground in St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday, with the Harpy Eagles looking strong on 114-1, chasing the Combined Campuses’ first innings score of 200. However, after hitting his maiden first-class half- century on Wednesday afternoon, Raymond Perez was able to add only one more run to his overnight score of 61, while Kevlon Anderson’s overnight score of 27 could not be altered before they were both removed by Avinash Mahabirsingh.

In fact, Mahabirsingh was the shining star on show on Thursday for CCC, grabbing a record eight wickets to help rout the Harpy Eagles cheaply. Captain Tevin Imlach was the only other batsman to stand up to Mahabirsingh’s reign of terror, crafting 55 in 104 balls that included 8 boundaries. Kevin Sinclair added a run-a-ball 37, but no other Harpy Eagles player reached double figures after that, as Mahabirsingh proved to be unplayable on the day, and the Harpy Eagles narrowly got past the required total, being bowled out for 223 in 60.4 overs.
Mahabirsingh claimed 8-51 in 17.4 overs, while Jediah Blades and Amari Goodridge took the remaining two wickets with returns of 1-47 from 14 overs and 1-30 from 8 overs respectively.
CCC looked to be in a hurry in the second innings, cutting down Guyana’s lead of 23 in under 5 overs. Ordain McCatty was the man challenging the Harpy Eagles bowling, racing to a half- century in 58 balls. However, he was unable to press on, and fell to Kevin Sinclair’s bowling for 56 from 81 balls.
Besides Captain Shamarh Brooks, Yannick Ottley was the only other batsman to attain a score in double figures, as he contributed 17 from 28 balls.
While Guyana picked up a few more wickets, Brooks saw his team out to close of play, remaining unbeaten on 54 from 120 balls, while Mahabirsingh help up the other end with 4 from 29 deliveries.
Sinclair, Gudakesh Motie and Veerasammy Permaul shared the spoils, each picking up two wickets for the Harpy Eagles.
The Combined Campuses and Colleges at were 165-7 at close of play, leading the Harpy Eagles by 142 runs with 3 wickets remaining.