Harding, the leading bowler in the Colonial Medical Insurance Super50 Cup this past November, continued his fine form when he snared 5-57 from 17.3 overs and the Red Force were dismissed about an hour after lunch for 209 to give the Pride a first-innings lead of 34 on the second day of fifth-round matches in the Championship.
Brathwaite, the Pride captain, hit 58 and left-handed opener Shayne Moseley, his club-mate, was not out on 49.
The Pride opening pair gave the innings a firm foundation before the wickets of Brathwaite, lbw to pacer Terance Hinds, and West Indies teammate Shamarh Brooks, lbw to left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein, fell inside the final half-hour to upset the Pride’s momentum.
When bad light stopped play 10 overs early, the Pride were ahead by 161 at 127 for 2 and looking to put themselves in an impregnable position on the third day, on Saturday.
Earlier, five wickets, three to Harding and two to West Indies pacer Kemar Roach, had Red Force rocking on 88 for six.
Resuming from their overnight total of 52 for one, Red Force were 71 for two, when their captain Yannick Ottley was caught behind off Harding for 12.
The real damage to the reply of the Red Force unfolded when they lost left-handed opener Jeremy Solozano for the top score of 50, Jason Mohammed for 11, as well as Denesh Ramdin and Yannic Cariah for ducks without addition to the total in the space of 19 balls.
The visitors got a few small stands from the lower order, led by 28 from Hosein and 27 from Uthman Muhammad, to fashion a respectable total before Harding brought the innings to a close when he claimed his fifth scalp of Muhammad.
Harding ended with second innings bowling figures of 5 for 57 and was the primary architect as the Red Force scuttled out for a paltry 77 in the second innings. Looking to stage an unlikely rescue mission, overnight batsmen Joshua Da Silva (23) and Yannic Cariah (12) began the final day with the team struggling at 48 for 4.
Da Silva only managed to add another 13 runs before he was dismissed lbw by Chemar Holder. Cariah followed soon after, managing to add just one more run before being caught by Shane Dowrich off the bowling of Harding.
In a steady procession of wickets, Terrance Hinds (2) Bryan Charles (0) Uthman Muhammad (3) and Daniel St Clair (0) all departed while adding just a total of 5 runs added to the total.
Keon Harding took 4-42 and Johnathan Carter 2-9 to help Barbados dismantle the Leewards’ who owed their score to Devon Thomas who scored 58 and Kieran Powell, who made 43 on opening the batting.
Powell and Kacey Carty added 52 for the second wicket after Harding had dismissed Montcin Hodge for seven. Jomel Warrican broke the partnership when he dismissed Carty for 20.
The Leewards had added four runs to their score when Harding dismissed Powell to leave the visitors struggling as 76-3. Harding then dismissed Amir Mangoo for a 15-ball duck and the Leewards were in further trouble at 89-4.
Thomas and Jahmar Hamilton came together to mount the largest partnership of the innings, 72 for the fifth wicket when Johnathan Carter dismissed Thomas to end the resistance. Hamilton was eventually bowled for 29 and the Leewards innings fell away afterwards.
At the close of play, Kraigg Brathwaite was unbeaten on 11 and Shayne Moseley eight.
Harding, the leading bowler for champions West Indies Emerging Players in the Colonial Medical Insurance Super50 Cup this past November, grabbed 4-77 from 16 overs and Holder, the former West Indies Under-19 World Cup-winning pacer, snared 3-63 from 18.1 overs.
Vishaul Singh added 23 to his overnight score to end with the top score of 79 for the Jags – now placed fourth – and put on 68 for the fourth wicket with Barbados-born, fellow left-hander Raymon Reifer.
But there was little resistance from the rest of the batting once Reifer was caught behind off Holder for 31 from a loose drive and Singh was caught at gully off the same bowler, also essaying a drive.
A stand of 38 for the sixth wicket between Anthony Bramble and Chandrapaul Hemraj either side of lunch stemmed the fall of wickets for almost 45 minutes.
But Harding had Bramble caught at first slip for 19 and hastened the end with the scalps of Hemraj for 42, Veerasammy Permaul and Nial Smith in quick succession before Holder bowled tail-ender Keon Joseph to bring the innings to a close at 258, a lead of 78.
Chasing 79 for victory, Pride lost the scalps of opener Shayne Moseley, their captain and West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite and Player of the Match Jonathan Carter before Shamarh Brooks turned part-time left-arm spinner Hemraj into mid-wicket for a single to formalise the result about a half-hour after tea to move into third place.
Pride had not beaten Jaguars in a Championship match on home soil since a 93-run victory in March 2013; and they have not beaten their opponents in the PCL era since November 2014, when they won by two runs in a tense finish at the Guyana National Stadium.
Scores: Barbados 389 and 79-3, Guyana Jaguars 209 and 258.
The 24-year-old, right-arm fast-medium bowler will replace Romario Shepherd who has been withdrawn after he tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, according to sports broadcaster Andrew Mason.
Harding has played 17 First-Class matches during which he has taken 54 wickets at an average of 25.11. His best bowling performance came against Trinidad and Tobago in February 2020 when he took 10 wickets in the match with a best of 5 for 19 in TT’s second innings.
The loss of Shepherd, though, will be a major blow to the West Indies, who were already without a number of stars including Captain Jason Holder, Shimron Hetmyer, Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, Kieron Pollard, Shai Hope, Sheldon Cottrell and Nicholas Pooran for the tour set to take place between late January and February this year.
Shepherd scored a century and a 50 during the recent West Indies ‘A’ tour of New Zealand and was one of the shining lights in an otherwise disastrous tour. He also took two wickets in the unofficial two-Test series.
Friday’s day four started with the Pride’s overnight pair of Shamarh Brooks and Keon Harding adding a further 54 runs to their overnight 105-3 before Harding was dismissed by Veerasammy Permaul for 24 in the 63rd over.
That wicket brought Nicholas Kirton to the crease but he did not last long before getting dismissed by Kevin Sinclair for two in the 66th over.
Brooks and new batsman Shemar Springer took the Pride to lunch without the loss of any more wickets, finishing 166-5 off 67 overs with Brooks on 47 and Springer yet to get off the mark.
Brooks brought up his fifty shortly after lunch but failed to kick on, being dismissed by Permaul for 51 with the score on 178 in the 71st over.
It quickly became 178-7 after Sinclair removed Akeem Jordan for a duck.
The Pride only batted with 10 as captain Shane Dowrich was unable to bat.
Springer made a crucial 35 not out as Chaim Holder (13) and Jair McAllister (2) both fell as the Pride ended their innings 220-9 off 91.2 overs, trailing Guyana by 151 runs.
Veerasammy Permaul finished with 4-53 from 26.2 overs while Kevin Sinclair took 3-65 in his 24 overs.
The beginning of the Harpy Eagles’ second innings was not ideal as Tevin Imlach was dismissed by Jair McAllister for a duck in just the second over with the score on three.
The tight opening spells by McAllister and Jordan paid dividends when Jordan trapped Kemol Savory in front for a duck in the seventh over to leave the Harpy Eagles 4-2.
First innings centurion Matthew Nandu was then joined by captain Leon Johnson and the pair added some respectability to the total with a 38-run partnership before Johnson became Keon Harding’s first victim for 12 in the 17th over.
Next it was Shemar Springer’s turn to get in on the fun, dismissing Anthony Bramble for one to leave the Guyanese reeling at 49-4 in the 20th over.
Kevin Sinclair also failed to significantly trouble the scorers before he became Harding’s second victim, falling for one in the 23rd over.
The 25th over saw wicket number six fall as Nandu was removed by Harding for a 77-ball 16.
Three overs later, Chanderpaul Hemraj went caught behind off the bowling of Akeem Jordan for 15.
Shamar Joseph became Jordan’s third wicket, going for four in the 32nd over to leave the score at 90-8.
The Harpy Eagles ended the day 91-8 off 33 overs with Permaul (11) and Nial Smith (0) at the crease. They have a lead of 242 runs heading into day four.
Scores: Guyana Harpy Eagles 371 off 121.1 overs (Matthew Nandu 126, Kevin Sinclair 43, Veerasammy Permaul 37, Jair McAllister 3-43, Chaim Holder 3-72) and 91-8 off 33 overs (Matthew Nandu 16, Akeem Jordan 3-18, Keon Harding 3-37)
Barbados Pride 220-9 off 91.2 overs (Sheyne Moseley 65, Shamarh Brooks 51, Shemar Springer 35*, Veerasammy Permaul 4-53, Kevin Sinclair 3-65, Shamar Joseph 2-33)
