(CMC) – Defending champions Barbados Pride have maintained their position at the top of the West Indies Championship table, but they have Leeward Islands Hurricanes and Guyana Harpy Eagles on their heels going into the fifth and final round which starts on Wednesday.
Pride, who convincingly defeated host side Trinidad and Tobago Red Force by an innings and 22 runs in their fourth-round match, are on 67 points from three wins and one loss. Their final game will be against the bottom-of-the-table Windward Islands Volcanoes at the Diego Martin Sports Complex.
The second-placed Hurricanes, who backed up their impressive third-round victory over Red Force with a victory over Volcanoes, have a similar win-loss record to Pride.
But with the Barbados side edging them out in pace bowling points, they are of 65.4 points. Hurricanes will face Jamaica Scorpions at Brian Lara Academy in their last tournament encounter.
Harpy Eagles, whose match with Scorpions ended in a high-scoring draw in round four, are still in with a shot at the title on 51.2 points.
Despite producing an excellent batting performance to score 584 in the first innings – the highest total of this year’s championship – they were unable to get wickets fast enough to force a victory against the Jamaican side.
Eagles will play Red Force at the Queen’s Park Oval from Wednesday.
Red Force (47.2 points), Scorpions (37.8 points), and the winless Volcanoes who garnered their 21 points from pace bowling, batting bonus, and bowling bonus points, will be playing for pride as none of them have a chance of dethroning Pride at this stage.
Red Force, who were in third position on 43 points going into the penultimate round, had put themselves out of contention with their loss to Pride.
