Jaguars’ pacer takes hat-trick to undermine Red Force, Canadian left-armer bags six scalps

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – A hat-trick from Clinton Pestano and a destructive spell from Romesh Eranga allowed Guyana Jaguars and Canada respectively, to stage stunning upsets in the 2018-19 WINDIES Super50 Cup on Saturday here.

Pestano became the fifth bowler to take a hat-trick in the 42-year history of the WINDIES Super50 Tournament, propelling Guyana Jaguars to a stunning, 75-run victory and end Trinidad & Tobago Red Force’s unbeaten run in Group “A”.

The Sri Lanka-born Eranga grabbed an amazing 6-21 from 10 overs, as Canada delivered a knock-out punch to defending champions Windward Islands Volcanoes in an 18-run victory in the other Group “A” contest.

View full scorecards here: https://www.windiescricket.com/livepage/

At the Brian Lara Cricket Academy: Pestano removed Red Force top-scorer Lendl Simmons, and veterans Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo with the third, fourth and fifth deliveries of the 28th over, as the Red Force, chasing 292 for victory, crashed to 216 all out in 47.1 overs.

Red Force looked to be cruising on 133 for two, following two successive half-century stands involving Simmons, whose 70 from 73 balls included six fours and three sixes.

After Denesh Ramdin, opening the batting, fell cheaply in the fourth over, Simmons put on 67 for the second wicket with Jason Mohammed and an even 50 for the third wicket with Darren Bravo.

Mohammed made 24 and Bravo gathered 43 from 72 balls, but Pestano’s intervention knocked Red Force off their stride and they never recovered stability, as the Jaguars erased the memory of their earlier loss in the Tournament and romped to their fourth straight win.

Earlier, half-centuries from opener Trevon Griffith and fellow left-hander Raymon Reifer anchored the Jaguars to 291 for eight from their allocation of 50 overs

Griffith struck seven fours and one six in 70 from 83 balls to hold the top order of the batting together, sharing 60 for the second wicket with his captain and fellow left-hander Leon Johnson.

When Reifer, batting at five, replaced Griffith, Jaguars were 159 for three in the 30th over, and he became the glue that kept the bottom half of the batting together with two fours and four sixes in 55 off 66 balls.

The highlight for Reifer was a 57-run stand for the sixth wicket with Ricardo Adams which ushered the Jags past 250 and put them on course for a bigger total before they were two of three wickets that fell in the closing overs.

At Queen’s Park Oval: Chasing 207 for victory, Volcanoes never recovered, after Eranga removed the long-standing opening pair of Devon Smith and Tyrone Theophile for ducks in the space of four balls in the first over.

Volcanoes further slumped to 40 for four in the 12 overs before Alick Athanaze came to the crease and put on 86 for the fifth wicket with Roland Cato.

Cato was run out for an even 50 off 78 balls in the 32nd over and Eranga returned to remove Athanaze bowled for 42 in the next over, as the Volcanoes sunk to 128 for six before failing to mount a rearguard action.

The Canadians had a handful of batsmen get starts without carrying on and limped their way to 206 for nine off their allocation of 50 overs.

Opener Navneet Dhaliwal and Srimantha Wijeyaratne both scored 35, their captain David Jacobs added 32, Bhavindu Adhihetty made 29 and Dilon Heyliger got 20.

Theophile was the main wrecker of the Canadian batting, taking 3-33 from four over with his uncomplicated off-spin, while part-time off-spinner Kavem Hodge and WINDIES Twenty20 fast-medium bowler Kesrick Williams scalped two wickets apiece.

HAT-TRICKS IN WINDIES SUPER50 HISTORY

Rajindra Dhanraj – Trinidad & Tobago vs Guyana, Bourda Oval, 1996 (Ramnaresh Sarwan, Kenneth Wong, Roger Harper)

Kieron Pollard – Trinidad & Tobago vs Leeward Islands, Bourda Oval, 2008 (Wilden Cornwall, Devon Thomas, Justin Athanaze)

Anthony Martin – Leeward Islands vs Windward Islands, Sabina Park, 2010 (Lyndon James, Shane Shillingford, Mervin Matthew)

Sunil Narine – Trinidad & Tobago vs Windward Islands, Three Ws Oval, 2018 (Kavem Hodge, Delorn Johnson, Kesrick Williams)

Clinton Pestano – Guyana vs Trinidad & Tobago, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, 2018 (Lendl Simmons, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo)

-ENDS-

MATCH SCHEDULE

GROUP “A”

(in Trinidad)

• Matches starting at 2 pm, except where indicated in brackets; Webcast available on the WINDIES Cricket YouTube channel

• Matches starting at 2 pm, except where indicated in brackets; Webcast available on the WINDIES Cricket YouTube channel

GROUP “B”

(in Barbados)

• Matches starting at 9 am, except where indicated in brackets; Webcast available on the WINDIES Cricket YouTube channel

• Matches starting at 2 pm, except where indicated in brackets; Televised on ESPN Caribbean, with video highlights on the WINDIES Cricket YouTube channel

THE FINALS

(in Barbados)

• Matches starting at 2 pm, except where indicated in brackets; Televised on ESPN Caribbean, with video highlights on the WINDIES Cricket YouTube channel

NOTES

• Visit the CWI website, www.windiescricket.com, for series and ticket information, plus “live” scoring

-CWI