A shaky chase of 68 saw Guyana Harpy Eagles losing five wickets but, in the end, managing to secure a five-wicket win over Barbados Pride as the West Indies Championship third round concluded yesterday.
After enforcing the follow-on, Pride were 44 without loss at the start of the final day, still 180 runs behind Eagles and managed to post 291 all out in 93.5 overs. Eagles then reached 71 for five in 12 overs to close the gap between them and table toppers, Pride.
A dropped catch on day three of Kraigg Brathwaite who was on 11 at the time, proved costly for Eagles as he chalked up his 27th century at first-class level. The West Indies captain frustrated the Eagles bowlers by hitting 16 boundaries during his 241-ball 111 before a short ball from Keemo Paul was hoisted by the opener into the safe hands of Gudakesh Motie.
Brathwaite had shared an 84-run opening partnership with Shayne Moseley who fell two runs short of a half century but struck nine boundaries during his 85-ball innings before leading a catch to Tevin Imlach behind the stumps off of Nial Smith.
Raymon Reifer joined Brathwaite and contributed 27 runs during their 47-run partnership before falling to left-arm spinner, Veerasammy Permaul.
Shane Dowrich also joined Brathwaite in a spirited 50-run stand but was removed by Paul for 24. Dowrich was soon followed by Akeem Jordan who was also dismissed by Paul. Keon Harding (18 not out) and Jomel Warrican (10) delayed the inevitable before Motie broke the last wicket partnership.
Paul ended with 4-90 while Smith bagged 3-76. Motie returned 2-35 and Permaul, 1-47. Jordan returned to keep Pride in the hunt for an upset victory with 4-31 but it was the level headed approach of Tagenarine Chanderpaul (23 not out) and Leon Johnson (14 not out) that saw the former champions over the line.
In the other match, Leeward Islands Hurricanes defeated Trinidad and Tobago Red Force by 187 runs while Windward Islands Volcanoes lost to Jamaica Scorpions by an innings and 14 runs.
Pride remained at the top of the table with 45 points while Hurricanes are in second with 43.6 points. Red Force ended the round on 41.6 points while Eagles moved to 39.4 points. Scorpions lifted from the bottom of the table to fifth with 26.8 points and Volcanoes slipped to last place with 13.8 points.
