SUPER50: Harpy Eagles snatch three-run win over Red Force
SUMMARY: Guyana Harpy Eagles 269-9 from 50 overs (Romario Shepherd 74*, Sherfane Rutherford 49, Anthony Bramble 42, Tevin Imlach 32, Tagenarine Chanderpaul 25, Shannon Gabriel 4-42, Sunil Narine 3-17) vs Trinidad and Tobago Red Force 266-6 from 50 overs (Darren Bravo 71, Kjorn Ottley 49; Romario Shepherd 2-44)
Romario Shepherd was the star with the bat and Clinton Pestano held his nerves in the final over as Guyana Harpy Eagles defeated Trinidad and Tobago Red Force by three runs in the Cricket West Indies’ CG United Super50 Cup on Wednesday evening.
Playing in the day/night contest at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad, Harpy Eagles recovered through Shepherd’s heroics to post 269-9, before Pestano defended 11 off the final over to leave Red Force short on 266-6.
Batting first in the Group A contest, Harpy Eagles were 201-9 after 44 overs, before Shepherd went berserk, dominating a unbroken last wicket partnership of 68 off 36 balls with Veerasammy Permaul, whose contribution was four.
Playing in his 50th List A game, Shepherd smashed five fours and six sixes in a rapid 74 not out off 46 balls, his highest score in Regional 50-over cricket. It was his third List A half-century.
Earlier, Harpy Eagles got a brisk start of 69 in 9.3 overs by openers Anthony Bramble (42) and Tagenarine Chanderpaul (25) before slipping to 86-4 by the 16th over.
Both openers were removed, as well as Shimron Hetmyer for 11 and captain Leon Johnson for a first ball duck, as Shannon Gabriel and Sunil Narine had an equal share of the wickets.
It took a partnership of 83 between Sherfane Rutherford (49) and Tevin Imlach (32) to revive the innings, but once the latter fell at 169-5 in the 37th over, the Harpy Eagles again suffered a slump, slipping to 201-9.
The impressive Gabriel took 4-42, while Narine bagged 3-17.
Red Force had solid partnerships throughout their innings, but the Harpy Eagles managed to hold their nerves at the backend to cop their first points of the tournament, after losing their opening game against Windward Islands Volcanoes on Monday.
Former West Indies batsman Darren Bravo topscored with 71 off 88 (4x4s, 2x6s), opener Kjorn Ottley made 49 off 53 (7x4s), Narine 30* off 17 (3x4s, 1×6) and Yannic Cariah 30 off 27 (2x4s, 1×6).
Bowling for Harpy Eagles, Shepherd took 2-44 off 10 overs, Gudakesh Motie 1-33 off six, Permaul 1-51 off nine and Pestano 1-53 off eight.
Guyana Harpy Eagles next face Combined Campuses and Colleges on Saturday at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba.