Chanderpaul, Hetmyer take Harpy Eagles into semis

TAROUBA, Trinidad (CMC):

Opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Shimron Hetmyer both struck form at the ideal time as Guyana Harpy Eagles thrashed Jamaica Scorpions by seven wickets in their final preliminary game of the Super50 Cup here Saturday to secure their spot in next week’s semi-finals.

Needing nine points to overtake West Indies Academy for the final spot, Harpy Eagles bundled out the winless Scorpions for a paltry 181 to gain three valuable bonus points before comfortably chasing down a revised target of 184 under Duckworth-Lewis-Stern after the game was reduced to 47 overs per side due to a lengthy rain break.

Test star Chanderpaul, with a highest previous score of 30 in his last five innings, top-scored with 77 off 110 deliveries with eight fours while fellow left-hander Hetmyer, with just 83 runs from six innings in the tournament, punched an unbeaten 62 off 53 balls with five fours and two sixes.

“It’s no secret that we’ve been struggling a bit with the bat,” said Tevin Imlach in his first game as captain.

“It’s good to see them back among the runs. They’ve been short of runs in the tournament but peaking at the right time, hopefully.”

With the result, Harpy Eagles moved into fourth place on 34 points, joining Leeward Islands Hurricanes (44), Trinidad and Tobago Red Force (40), and Barbados Pride (37), who had already qualified.

West Indies Academy narrowly missed out with 33 points in fifth while Combined Campuses and Colleges finished sixth with 29 points.

Dethroned title-holders Scorpions, meanwhile, finished rock bottom on seven points without a win, losing six of their seven outings.

“It’s hard for me now to pinpoint one or two things [behind our poor performance],” said a dejected captain Rovman Powell.

“But we can go back to the batting – the batting has not [stood] up all season. Last night, I was laying in bed, and when I look around [in my mind], we have about five or six half-centuries in the entire team. At this level, that is unacceptable.”

“And when you look on the bowling aspects of things, we can count, maybe, one or two times where a bowler [got] three or so wickets for us.

“And when you look on the fielding aspect of things, we dropped catches at crucial intervals, so all in all , it’s been a disappointing season.”

Brad Barnes top-scored with 36, Powell got 33, and Chadwick Walton chipped in with 26 as the Scorpions folded cheaply after choosing to bat first at the Brian Lara Stadium.

Walton and Nkrumah Bonner (20) put on 39 for the second wicket, Powell and Andre McCarthy (23) added 53 for the fourth, but a middle-order slump, which saw four wickets tumble for 13 runs off 45 balls, sealed the Scorpions demise.

Off-spinner Kevin Sinclair captured three for 48, and medium pacer Sherfane Rutherford (2-38) and left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul (2-38) finished with two wickets apiece.