Red Force aim to stay alive in Four-Day race

THIRD-PLACED TT Red Force will be eager for a victory against leaders Guyana Harpy Eagles to keep their chances alive of winning the West Indies Four-Day Championships. The match between Red Force and Harpy Eagles will begin at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba on Wednesday.

Two other round three matches will also bowl off on Wednesday as Leeward Islands Hurricanes battle Barbados Pride at the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair and Windward Islands Volcanoes will play Jamaica Scorpions at Providence Stadium in Guyana. All matches start at 10 am.

Red Force have shown some quality this season but will be desperate for a win to stay in contention. Red Force have drawn their first two matches, therefore anything less than a win against Harpy Eagles may leave the TT franchise with too much ground to make up to win the title.

“We got two draws. We looking forward to having a good performance in this game here…get an outright win,” Red Force coach David Furlonge said.

Red Force captain Darren Bravo, who has been overlooked by the West Indies selectors recently, has led from the front. In the last round, Bravo struck centuries in both innings against Hurricanes at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua. In the first innings, he cracked an even 100 and in the second he scored 100 not out.

One difference in the Red Force team this year is the batting. The batsmen have disappointed in recent years, but in 2023 they are showing consistency as Tion Webster, Amir Jangoo, Terrance Hinds, Jason Mohammed, Imran Khan and Yannic Cariah have all scored half-centuries.

Furlonge said, “We scored 400 (in an innings) this year. Good to see some batsmen scoring runs in club cricket…good to see them getting among the runs. Hopefully, they could carry it into the (four-day) game.”

The injured Hinds is not available for round three and Cariah is on tour in South Africa with the West Indies One Day International team. They will be replaced by Vikash Mohan and the uncapped Justin Manick.

Furlonge said Manick can fill the void of having limited fast bowlers available. Hinds is a useful medium pacer and fast bowlers Jayden Seales and Anderson Phillip are injured. West Indies pacer Shannon Gabriel is unavailable after just completing a South African tour with the West Indies Test team.

“It is good to have them (Mohan/Manick) on board. We have a little shortage of fast bowlers, some injuries to fast bowlers…we have not decided on the starting XI just yet, but we will see what happens tomorrow.”

In round one, debutant Mohan split his webbing on his hand in the first ball of the match and has been out ever since. PowerGen Sports Club player Manick is a right-arm medium-pace bowler.

SQUADS:

RED FORCE

Darren Bravo (captain), Bryan Charles, Jyd Goolie, Amir Jangoo, Imran Khan, Justin Manick, Jason Mohammed, Vikash Mohan, Uthman Muhammad, Khary Pierre, Keagan Simmons, Jeremy Solozano, Tion Webster.

HARPY EAGLES

Leon Johnson (captain), Antony Adams, Kevlon Anderson, Anthony Bramble, Ronsford Beaton, Tevin Imlach, Shamar Joseph, Matthew Nandu, Keemo Paul, Veerasammy Permaul, Kemol Savory, Kevin Sinclair, Nial Smith.