The final round of the West Indies Championship will bowl off today with three critical clashes in Trinidad and Tobago.
Defending champions, Barbados Pride are entering the final round with 67 points. They are trailed by Leeward Islands Hurricanes who have 65.4 points. Former champions, Guyana Harpy Eagles are in third with 51.2 points while hosts, Red Force, slipped to fourth with 47.2 points. Jamaica Scorpions and Windward Islands Volcanoes continue to languish at the bottom of the charts with 37.8 points and 21 points respectively making them virtually unable to win the title.
Pride will take on Volcanoes and will fancy their chances of retaining their title given their difference in fortunes this season. Kraigg Brathwaite has led his men from the front and it is no surprise Pride have lost just one match and scored in excess of 250 runs in five of their seven innings.
Brathwaite leads the run-chart with 475 runs while Raymon Reifer (274 runs), Jonathan Carter (217 runs) and Shane Dowrich (192 runs) have been the main contributors.
Volcanoes however, have not erupted and have been bowled out for less than 200 runs on seven occasions. Their only score above 200 was 339 all out against Guyana. Alick Athanaze has been the standout batsman for Volcanoes with 213 runs, and no other batsman has over 200 runs under their belt.
Nevertheless, Kenneth Dember and Preston McSween have kept Volcanoes with some amount of firepower, taking 15 and 14 wickets respectively. The Pride bowlers have shared the wickets but Akeem Jordan and Jomel Warrican stand out with a dozen wickets each.
The second clash will be the most watched of the round as both Guyana and Red Force will want to end on a high note. At the individual level, Veerasammy Permaul is just three wickets behind leading wicket taker, Rahkeem Cornwall, with 19 wickets while his fellow left-arm spinner, Gudakesh Motie, has 15 wickets.
Keemo Paul has been in good form as well, taking 13 wickets. The former champions will be hopeful their express seamer, Nial Smith, is fully recovered from an illness that kept him out of the last round.
With the bat, Tagenarine Chanderpaul is well on his way to being the most prolific scorer, second only behind Brathwaite with 414 runs. He is well supported by Vishaul Singh (243 runs) and Chandrapaul Hemraj (227 runs).
Guyana will be hoping their middle order could come good with the bat, given the exploits of Tevin Imlach and Leon Johnson. If Anthony Bramble is recovered, he is likely to replace Akshaya Persaud who has not had the best of outings.
For Red Force, Yannic Cariah and Joshua Da Silva have scored the bulk of their runs with 311 and 245 runs respectively. No other batsman from their side has made more than 100 runs.
But Red Force have built a reputation for not surrendering without a fight, and with familiar conditions, could be a spoke in Guyana’s proverbial wheel.
Meanwhile, Hurricanes pose the strongest chance of dethroning Pride as they trail by just 1.6 points and will come up against Scorpions who have played with little venom this season.
Rahkeem Cornwall continues to torment batsmen on the regional scene with 21 wickets, and given Scorpion’s history of troubles against spin, this could be right up Cornwall’s alley. He has been amply supported by Jeremiah Louis (17 wickets) and Colin Archibald (12 wickets).
Hurricanes’ batting has also been strong with the likes of Devon Thomas and Kieran Powell also scoring over 400 runs this season. Jermaine Blackwood and John Campbell have been the biggest contributors to Scorpions’ totals but have only won a single match this season.
The first ball of the four-day contests will bowl off from 10.00 hours.
