FOUR-DAY: Imlach, Sinclair hit fifties in tame draw with Red Force

Report and photography by Akeem Greene in Trinidad

With close to two days of no play at the Queen’s Park Oval due to inclement weather, the highly likely scenario of a tame draw occurred in the final round Regional Four-Day match between Trinidad and Tobago Red Force and Guyana Harpy Eagles on Saturday.

After both the Eagles and Leeward Islands Hurricanes – the only two challengers to Barbados Pride – drew their matches, Pride retained the title, despite a draw as well against Windward Volcanoes at the Diego Martin Sporting Complex.

At the Oval, the final day was more about personal glory, especially with the slew of international cricket headed to the region from mid-June.

Tevin Imlach yet again grafted to a third consecutive half-century, but he would be gutted to miss out on a maiden triple-figure score after he played around a Terrance Hinds delivery which jagged back and trapped him on the pads.

Imlach, who did wicket-keeping duties for the entire 94.2 overs of Red Force’s innings then opened the batting, faced 176 balls for his well-compiled 76 (8x4s; 1×6).

For the third consecutive match, Imlach and the in-form Tagenarine Chanderpaul got a fifty-plus partnership, this time with a stand of 72 before the latter edged Uthman Muhammad for 25.

Three balls later, Muhammad deceived Leon Johnson with a change of pace which kept low, just after the Harpy Eagles skipper crunched him through cover for four.

Vishaul Singh struck three fours in his 19 before he edged off-spinner Bryan Charles behind, while Akshaya Persaud’s struggles for a meaningful score this season continued when he was trapped leg-before to Charles.

Keemo Paul came and cracked 20 (2x4s) from 18 balls, but it was Kevin Sinclair and Imlach’s stand of 64 for the sixth wicket which took the Eagles to safety and into the ascendency.

Sinclair, who had a previous best of 43 in First-Class cricket, looked the part with some powerful shots on both sides of the field as he raced to a maiden half-century from 69 balls. He eventually departed for 58 after striking seven fours and two maximums.

Gudakesh Motie further enhanced his reputation with the bat, as he cracked a quick 37 (8x4s) from 33 balls, while Veerasammy Permaul made 47 from 65 balls.

Permaul shared fifty partnerships with Motie and Nial Smith as Harpy Eagles compiled a lead of 113.

Keemo Paul then continued his fine form with the ball, picking up the wicket of Joshua DaSilva, as Red Force closed the contest 25-1. Paul took 6-50 in the first innings.

Notably, Permaul ended the season two wickets short of 500 for Guyana in First-Class cricket.

Below are the summarised scores for the other matches.

At Diego Martin Sporting Complex: Windward Volcanoes 203 from 62 overs (Teddy Bishop 44, Larry Edward 37, Kaveem Hodge 37; Ramon Simmonds 3-25, Roston Chase 3-46, Miguel Cummins 2-32) v Barbados Pride  285-6 (Kraigg Brathwaite 109, Raymon Reifer 71, Roston Chase 59, Larry Edwards 2-27,  Ryan John 2-41, Darius Martin 2-78) from 80 overs

At Brian Lara Cricket Academy: Jamaica Scorpions 302 (Paul Palmer Jr. 144*, Jamie Merchant 55, Aldane Thomas 31; Sheeno Berridge 2-29, Colin Archibald 2-64, Rahkeem Cornwall 2-103) vs Leeward Islands Hurricanes 4-0 from three overs