West Indies Championships-Harpy Eagles hold nerve to trump CCC

Another captain’s knock from Tevin Imlach and support from Matthew Nandu saw the Guyana Harpy Eagles (GHE) sealing an 8-wicket win against the Combined Campuses and Colleges when their second- round West Indies Championships clash came to an end on Saturday afternoon.

It was a turnaround to savour for the hosts at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara, with rebuilding which began on Day 3 featuring Tevin Imlach and Ronaldo Alimohamed on Friday morning. Thereafter, Harpy Eagles bowlers were fired up in the second innings, sending their opponents to close of play with 3 wickets already down.
The carnage continued on Saturday morning, when Damel Evelyn and Andre Bailey resumed CCC’s innings at 32-3. Shamar Joseph was the first to strike on the day, disturbing Andre Bailey’s stumps for 5 off 8 deliveries. Evelyn, however, went on to build a 63-run partnership with Shaqkere Parris, which was broken by Veerasammy Permaul.
Already the highest scorer for his team in the innings, Evelyn (48 off 129 balls) fell 2 short of a half century when he was castled by Permaul. Parris held on for the next best score of 39 from 90 deliveries; but Permaul would again rain on his parade.
With one batter unable to come out to the crease, CCC’s last resistance was Avinash Mahabirsingh, who hit an almost run-a-ball 16.

Permaul ended with a 4- wicket haul (4-41 from 23.3 overs) while Joseph and Alimohamed each claimed 2 wickets to rout the CCC for 132 in 48.3 overs.
With their first innings lead of 32, CCC left the Harpy Eagles needing 165 for victory, and Tagenarine Chanderpaul’s injury and subsequent inability to bat saw Raymond Perez getting things going alongside Matthew Nandu.
However, Perez went for just 2 runs, resulting in Nandu and Imlach combining for a 147-run partnership.
Imlach hit a sparkling 80 off 125 balls before getting out LBW, while Nandu ended unbeaten on 69 from 138 deliveries.
Reflecting on the events of the match, Captain Tevin Imlach described his team as a fighting one. “It was a bit of ups-and-downs. Obviously, the first innings we didn’t put ourselves in the best position with the ball and we also kind of shot ourselves in the foot early up with the bat; but, you know, it’s a fighting team. That’s what Championship-winning teams usually do; they fight and they came back,” Imlach told this publication.
“Happy to see the guys in good spirits still, cause a loss like this would, you know, put a bit of doubt in the camp. So, it’s happy to see the men gain some confidence from this game,” the captain further said.
“We gave ourselves a chance; we got close to their score in the first innings by fighting. So, we knew we’re here with a chance. We have the quality bowlers to get them out, it’s just a matter of getting that done, and obviously we have the batting unit to get the runs, regardless of what it is,” he shared as he further divulged on their fighting effort.
With two wins in two rounds, the Harpy Eagles will next turn their attention to the West Indies Academy, whom they will take on in a day/ night pink-ball game beginning on Wednesday, February 12. That match is scheduled to bowl off at 13:00hrs each day.