A career best bowling performance from off-spinner Kevin Sinclair handed Guyana Harpy Eagles an unlikely 17-run win over Leeward Islands Hurricanes and gave Leon Johnson his sixth championship as he bid farewell to Regional four-day cricket.
The win handed Guyana their sixth title with 84 points and the earned the Headley-Weekes Trophy symbol of supremacy among the regional sides in the four-day competition.
Windward Islands Volcanoes ended second with 74.2 points while former champions, Barbados Pride ended in third with 55.6 points. Trinidad and Tobago Red Force (49.4 points), Hurricanes (46.2 points) and Jamaica Scorpions (25.6 points) rounded out the table.
“Coming into today’s play we would have been a bit on the backfoot, our old nemesis Leewards Hurricanes would have thwarted us over the years… the guys came out and played well, special mention to [Veerasammy] Permaul, yesterday he encouraged everybody and today he came out and led by example,” said Johnson.
“For the six championships, today would have probably been the best day out there,” he added.
Johnson thanked the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) for their recognition of his services to the game over the years.
He highlighted the fact that the game had given him the opportunity to travel the world and make friends.
It also gave him the opportunity to meet his wife, which, he declared, was his best partnership. On the final day of their fifth-round West Indies Championship clash, Hurricanes resumed on 81 for one chasing 143 for an outright win which would have denied the Harpy Eagles, the title.
They, however, lost their nine wickets in the morning session for a mere 44 runs and were bundled out for 125 in 45.5 overs, just about an hour after play started on yesterday’s final day of their fifth-round match at the Guyana National Stadium.
The day belonged to Sinclair who took his maiden five-wicket haul, ending with 6-33 in 16.5 overs. He also had the distinction of dismissing the last man at the wicket, Javier Spencer lbw for a duck, playing back and being palpably leg before wicket.
He was supported by veteran left arm spinner, Veerasammy Permaul with 3-44. Antony Adams also bagged a consolation wicket on his return to first-class cricket.
Kieran Powell, had threatened to derail the Harpy Eagles championships hopes. The former West Indies opener converted his overnight score of 47 to 61 from 105 balls, striking seven boundaries.
He shared in an even 50-run stand with Keacy Carty who made 21 before he was trapped leg before wicket to Sinclair. No other batsman reached double figures as the Harpy Eagles spinners with Sinclair to the fore tightened the screws and the Leeward Islands innings duly unravelled.
Members of the Guyana Harpy Eagles celebrate being crowned champions of the West Indies Championship after they beat Leeward Islands Hurricanes on Saturday at the Guyana National Stadium.