CWI Regional Super50
Middle order batsmen Kevlon Anderson and Kemol Savory struck vital half-centuries yesterday to guide the Guyana Harpy Eagles to a shaky two-wicket win over the West Indies Academy (WI A) at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Trinidad and Tobago.
The win, means that the Harpy Eagles’ chances of clinching a semi-final spot in the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional Super50 competition has been given a shot in the arm.
After winning the toss, Guyana’s skipper Tevin Imlach decided to have a bowl, a decision which paid dividends as his spin battery of Junior Sinclair, Rampertab Ramnauth and veteran Veerasammy Permaul wreaked havoc among the West Indies Academy batsmen.
While several of the WI A batters got starts, none of them could take it to the next level as the Guyanese spinners maintained a stranglehold on the scoring.
In fact, the WI A openers Ackeem Auguste (28) and Carlon Bowen-Tuckett (25) had given them a solid opening stand of 47 in 15 overs, but the latter was dismissed by Nial Smith just as the partnership was beginning to blossom.
Rinaldo Clarke (27) joined Auguste and the duo added a further 37 runs for the second wicket before Clarke became Permaul’s first scalp, out leg before wicket in the 21st over. The WI A skipper Teddy Bishop would last all of two balls, out for a duck, comprehensively bowled by Sinclair to leave his side at 85/3 in the 22nd over.
From there things began to go downhill as the WI A batsmen lost their way with the exception of Johann Layne, who made a valuable 17-ball 26 late down the order. He struck a pair of fours and sixes during his knock as the side was eventually bowled out for 200 in 45.5 overs.
At the back end, Sinclair and Ramnauth bowled in tandem to clean up the WI A tail. Sinclair ended with leading figures of 3/40 from his 10 overs while Ramnauth , a bit on the expensive side, collected 3/24 from 3.5 overs. Permaul lent his invaluable support with 2/57 (10 overs) while Nial Smith captured a solitary wicket, ending with a miserly 1/18 from 10 overs.
In search of 201 for victory, the Guyanese almost made a mess of the run chase in the face of some determined bowling from WI A, especially left arm medium pacer Jediah Blades.
The top five failed miserably, managing a combined 44 runs for five wickets before Savory and Anderson rescued their side from certain embarrassment.
While opener Matthew Nandu (34) was the only top order batsman to make a decent score, Savory and Anderson combined forces to take Guyana from 77/5 to 153 before Anderson lost his wicket.
Anderson made a hard earned 50 (81 balls, 4sx2) to push his side close to victory by the time he departed with the team at 153/6. Savory’s unbeaten 56 was equally painstaking as he faced 85 balls and struck three fours. Extras also helped the Guyanese as WI A gifted them 28 runs.
There were some nervy moments as Guyana lost two more wickets, Permaul (2) and Ronaldo AliMohamed (13) but Savory held his end while Ashmead Nedd struck consecutive fours off Kelvin Pitman in the 46th over to get Guyana across the line at 204/8. Nedd was left on 12 not out.
Blades was the pick of the WI A bowlers, snatching 4/48 from his 10 overs while Zishan Motra had 2/43 in support.
Guyana’s round robin matches are done and dusted, and they will now await their fate with a few more matches to be played among the rest of the teams in the CWI Super50 competition.
