Guyana Harpy Eagles defied half-centuries from Zachary McCaskie and Jason Holder to claim a 33-run win against Barbados Pride.
Pacer Nial Smith ended with four for 87 from 13.5 overs, and the left-arm spin bowling duo of Veerasammy Permaul and Gudakesh Motie finish with three wickets apiece and bowled the defending champions, Harpy Eagles to a morale-boosting win against their long-standing rivals at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua.
McCaskie hit the top score of 87, and Holder supported with 76, but Pride, chasing 341 to win, could only get to within sight of the promised land before the fell short about 15 minutes before the scheduled close.
After starting the day on 31 without loss, Pride got a solid foundation when their captain Kraigg Brathwaite, the West Indies Test captain, extended his opening stand with McCaskie to 85 before he was one of three wickets to Permaul in a span of 14 balls that set them back.
Pride were 89 for three, and familiarity bred some success when left-hander Raymon Reifer, a former member of the Harpy Eagles unit, added 54 for the fourth wicket with McCaskie before he was caught behind off Motie.
McCaskie had long cleared the half-century mark and carried Pride to 164 for four at lunch with Holder before falling in third over after the interval.
Holder got a bit of support from Shane Dowrich with 26 and Jomel Warrican was not out on 40, and he helped push Pride past 300, but once he was lbw to Smith, there was token resistance from the rest of the batting.
Left-hander Jyd Goolie missed out on his third first-class hundred because of injury, but he shared a match-winning, century fifth-wicket partnership with his captain Joshua Da Silva that propelled hosts Trinidad & Tobago Red Force to a four-wicket victory against runaway leaders Windward Islands Volcanoes in the West Indies Championship on Saturday.
Goolie pulled up lame going for a single and was forced to retire hurt on 90, but Da Silva, the West Indies Test wicketkeeper-batsman, remained calm under pressure with an unbeaten 53, and Red Force successfully chased 185 to win on the rain-affected final day of the feature match in the fourth round of the West Indies four-day, first-class tournament.
The result for Red Force – their third in succession against this opponent at Queen’s Park Oval – was part of a full house with all four matches producing a winner, which is bound to upset the standings.
Half-centuries from the West Indies pair of Keacy Carty and Justin Greaves anchored second-placed Leeward Islands Hurricanes to a three-wicket win against hosts Combined Campuses & Colleges Marooners;
Newly installed captain Brandon King proved his class with a second half-century that set up a two-wicket win for hosts Jamaica Scorpions against the Cricket West Indies Academy.
Red Force resumed from their overnight total of 10 for two, and pacer Ryan John struck in the first half-hour when he got Bryan Charles for four and had the home team reeling on 21 for three.
Long-serving batsman Jason Mohammed settled Red Force nerves when he shared exactly 50 with Goolie, but off-spinner Darel Cyrus bowled him for 15 in the final half-hour before Red Force reached lunch on 92 for four.
Red Force were 99 for four when rain stopped play two overs after the interval and kept the players off the field for about 40 minutes, and the left-handed Goolie reached his 50 from 156 balls when he dabbed pacer Ryan John into backward point for a single.
He continued to inch Red Force closer to the target with Da Silva, defying a break on play to repair the bowlers’ run-up at the Brian Lara Pavilion End of the ground before his injury prompted his departure with 10 required.
Da Silva hastened the end with two boundaries in three balls off the uncomplicated left-arm spin of West Indies Test teammate Kavem Hodge and formalised the result with a single to point about half-hour before the rescheduled tea break.
About 15 kilometres east, Carty and Greaves hit contrasting knocks of 61 that spurred Hurricanes to their target of 316 against Marooners at Frank Worrell Field on the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies.
After the visitors resumed from their bedtime total of 15 without loss, they lost openers Kieran Powell and Mikyle Louis cheaply in the first half-hour, and they were reeling on 30 for two.
Greaves came to the crease, and he anchored two crucial stands of 107 for the third wicket with Carty, and 59 for the fourth wicket with wicketkeeper-batsman Jahmar Hamilton before giving a return catch to teenaged leg-spinner Zishan Motara.
Hurricanes were 196 for four, and the outcome of the chase still looked uncertain, but Hamilton made 28, and a bit of enterprise and defiance from their burly captain Rahkeem Cornwall, not out on 42 that included three fours and two sixes off 56 balls, got them over the finish line.
Cornwall put on 40 for the seventh wicket with Louis, but his unbroken eighth wicket stand of 56 with Hayden Walsh Jr was the heartbreaker for the Marooners and formalised the result about 10 minutes before the scheduled close; Louis made 30, and Walsh was not out on 19.
King, a white-ball specialist for West Indies over the past three years, gave further proof about the different dimensions to his batting with 65 that included only five boundaries from 127 balls in almost four hours at the crease to be the rock of a successful chase of 234 by the Scorpions against the CWI Academy at Sabina Park.
He defied a top order batting meltdown triggered by Barbadian eft-arm spinner Joshua Bishop, whose four for 79 from 34 overs gave him match figures of 10 for 130 and had the Scorpions reeling on 96 for six.
King shared 92 for the seventh wicket with Abhijai Mansingh to get the chase back on track for the Scorpions, but they still required 46 when he was bowled by left-arm spinner Ashmead Nedd, who ended with three for 95 from 35 overs.
A combination Mansingh, Derval Green, and Jeavor Royal enabled Scorpions to reach their target about 45 minutes before the scheduled close.
The tournament continues this coming Wednesday when Harpy Eagles face Volcanoes at the Coolidge Cricket Ground, Red Force host Pride at Queen’s Park Oval, Marooners welcome CWI Academy at Frank Worrell Field, and Scorpions host Hurricanes at Sabina Park. (CMC)