Red Force 260 & 267 (Lewis 122, Jangoo 48; Permaul 4-14) beat Harpy Eagles 247 & 139 (Anderson 41, Savory 24; Hinds 3-20) by 141 runs

The Trinidad and Tobago Red Force have returned to the summit of regional red-ball cricket for the first time since 2006, dethroning three-time defending champions Guyana Harpy Eagles in the final of the West Indies Championship on Wednesday.

Four captivating days of cricket culminated in the Red Force seamers dismantling the Harpy Eagles to earn an authoritative 141-run victory at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua and Barbuda. 

With three full sessions available to get 280 runs on a pitch showing minimal deterioration, the Harpy Eagles would have fancied their chances of claiming a fourth successive title. To do so, however, they needed to see off the very obvious new-ball threat that is Jayden Seales.

A challenge they failed, as the West Indies pacer helped peg them back with the early wickets of Matthew Nandu (0) and Tevin Imlach (16), on either side of the fall of Tagenarine Chanderpaul, who was bowled by Anderson Phillip for one to leave Guyana 32 for three. 

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T and T success I believe has a lot to do with the current captain, has.a huge presence on the pitch and all the time driving the team on.

Pity his batting suffered a bit with the extra swing.

@Conorboy

wasn't patient enough. had no business wafting that bat way outside off stump to a wide delivery even if it inconclusive if he touched it. if you're going to commit to beating the bowler off his line, then do it....the halfa... nonsense always gets you out

@Jumpstart

I must agree, unlike him really, might have felt under pressure to score.

@Conorboy

i think so...doh understand why though....if sammy not going to pick yuh after being top run scorer in the tourney(expecially after besting your 2nd place position last year), then there is little(except possibly a triple hundred) would have done. i still think da silva makes the team purely as a batsman

It was a substandard performance by Guyana in the 2nd inning. Nandu after scoring a double century in the previous match made two ducks in the match, Anderson has lost his way, Motie's bowling looks ordinary.

@dayne

was a different lineup. nandu didn't face any international bowlers versus the academy. if cwi describe that as a warm up for the final, then they did gt a great disservice. you saw both seales and anderson exploit the technical weaknesses of both nandu and van lange. kemol looked the best technically and attitude wise....after paul and motie of course but they are international players

I think that the obvious difference between the teams was Lewis and Seales, both international players who drew on their experience to get their team over the line.

@dayne

You can only play as well as you are allowed to play. Credit is not being given to the bowling that just did not allow Guyana to play as well as they had been allowed previously.

@Jumpstart

So a more competitive "warm up" match would have made a difference?

Why not have GHE play the 4th place team instead?

.............

It is only the sixth time T&T has won the regional four-day title, with previous wins in 1969-1970, 1970-1971, 1975-76 (shared with Barbados), 1984-85, and 2005-06, making T&T only the fourth most successful team by titles won, behind Barbados (23), Guyana (13) and Jamaica (12). There has been much more success in the regional 50-over tournament, where T&T leads the way with a record 14 wins, followed by Jamaica, Barbados and Guyana, each with 9 titles.

@natty_forever

Agreed or better yet, the best XI of Teams 4-6 thereby giving players like McKenzie, Mindley, Greaves, Ambris etc one more FC match for the season. If the format is to be repeated (and I must say it was not as bad as I had feared), then for me the season starts with the Academy v a President's XI comprising players under 25 from the regional teams. The competition may be more even and it will be a good warm up for the younger players who may not have much experience. Then the senior regionals start in earnest. I would then have the top 3 teams play a round robin format for the final so that the best teams get at least 5 games.

@PalsofMine

Sounds good.