West Indies Championships title race comes to a head today

The seventh and final round of the West Indies Championships is set to bowl off at several venues within the region on Wednesday, April 9.
At least 3 teams are in contention for the championship spot. While the Barbados Pride, currently with 100 points, would need an all-out win, bonus points and a favourable result between Guyana and Trinidad to win it; the task of winning would be a lot easier for the table leaders Guyana Harpy Eagles (111.6 points) and Trinidad and Tobago Red Force (105.4 points).
It will be one final dance at the Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago, today as the virtual final features the Harpy Eagles and hosts Red Force.
According to Harpy Eagles Captain Tevin Imlach, his side would be treating this all-important clash as just another game.
“We’ve been playing good cricket. It shows, because we’re at the top of the table. We’re very confident we have the necessary pieces together. We’ve done our planning and stuff; so, we just need to execute our plans, and again treat it as another cricket game and not try to get too much ahead of ourselves and think too much about the championship. If we play good cricket, that would obviously take care of itself,” Imlach declared.

With the clash being so crucial, Imlach spoke of how important first innings and other bonus points would be for the defending champions, and shared, “We’re going into the game looking to win the match; that’s the idea around it. Obviously, getting a first innings’ lead or putting up a big first innings’ total is massive in every four-day game, much less one that, you know, is as important as this one.”
Red Force skipper Joshua DaSilva, responding to inquiries about the likelihood of picking up their first title in decades, described the upcoming clash as a ‘dog fight’.
DaSilva related about his team’s chances, “Yeah, of course, it’s a title that eluded us for 20 years. So, for us it’s just about going and playing the good cricket that we’ve been playing all season. Barring the last game, I think we’ve played exceptional cricket. We know this is probably the toughest challenge that we’ve faced in many years, being so close to winning the title.
“We’re not really thinking about that [championship] too much. Obviously, it’s in the back of our minds, but we still have to play good cricket. It’s going to be a dog fight as well here. It’s raining right now as I’m here in the Oval; so, hopefully rain does not affect the games, so both of us could have a good game of cricket,” the Trinidadian Captain added.
The battle between the Harpy Eagles and Red Force will begin at 10:00hrs today (Wednesday). Meanwhile, the Barbados Pride will take on Leeward Islands Hurricanes at Warner Park in St. Kitts; West Indies Academy will battle Windward Islands Volcanoes at Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua; and the Jamaica Scorpions will clash with Combined Campuses and Colleges at the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground in Trinidad.