Dominant Red Force bank on Narine for Super50 cup title push
Published:Wednesday | November 8, 2023 | 12:12 AMLennox Aldred/Gleaner Writer
THE TRINIDAD and Tobago Red Force will be looking to extend their unbeaten run in this year’s Super 50 cup tournament on route to the title as they face the Guyana Harpy Eagles in the first day/night semifinal of the limited overs tournament at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy starting at 1 p.m. local time.
The Red Force have been dominant in all areas in this year’s competition, enjoying a perfect record heading into the final four.
Of their seven games, the Red Force secured five victories with the recently retired mystery spinner, Sunil Narine, leading their charge with the ball along with leg-spinner Yannic Cariah, who both have a tournament-leading 16 wickets.
Runs have also flowed for the home side with captain Darren Bravo literally leading from the front, scoring 323 runs, the second most in the tournament behind the Leeward Islands Justin Greaves, who has scored just five more.
Left-hander Kjorn Ottley has also been prolific with the bat, scoring 259 runs and for Bravo, the team is in the right place heading into the business end of the tournament.
The Red Force are coming off an impressive 78-run win over Barbados in their final group game with Narine bagging four for 13 to help set up the win.
The T&T franchise also scored the most team runs in that encounter, 293 for six, and those numbers will boost the team’s confidence heading into the Guyana clash.
In the meantime, the Harpy Eagles will be hoping that they can get some more runs from their prolific batter Sherfane Rutherford, who has scored 248 runs.
Off-spinner Kevin Sinclair has been carrying the bulk of the bowling for the Guyana side, as his 14 wickets are the fifth most in the tournament to date.
The Harpy Eagles will also hope that West Indies batter Shimron Hetmyer can come good as he did against Jamaica in their final group game when he made 62 from 53 balls.
West Indies Test opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul is also expected to feature among the run-getters after coming off a top score of 77 against the Scorpions.