First up, Goolie led the charge in helping the Red Force to a massive 409 all out, before Phillip was the main destroyer in restricting the Volcanoes to 173 and 152.
When the Red Force bat for the only time in the match, Goolie scored 128, to lead all scorers but was more than well supported by Imran Khan, 84, Kyle Hope, 54, and Jason Mohammed, 45, in putting together 409.
That 409 was made despite 5-60 from Preston McSween. Kenneth Dember toiled hard for his three wickets at a cost of 125 runs, while Ryan John took 1-85, and Obed McCoy took 1-77.
In reply, the Volcanoes could only manage 173 largely thanks to the veteran Devon Smith, who top scored with 67.
Phillip was the chief destroyer, bagging 4-53. Akeal Hosein, 2-27, and Khan, 2-6, provided wonderful support.
The Volcanoes follow on didn’t go any better, with Kerron Cottoy’s 35 accounting for the most runs against Phillip’s 6-19 in just 9.2 overs.
Phillip would end with a remarkable 10-72 in the match.
After bowling out the Windward Islands Volcanoes for 227, Red Force appeared to be full control at 159-2 in the 30th over after Simmons made an entertaining 102 off 114 balls.
He hit seven fours and five sixes to take the CG Insurance Man-of-the-Match award as Red Force scored 228-6 off 45.3 overs – to win by four wickets with 27 balls to spare.
Simmons reached the milestone of 4,000 List A runs during his innings but fell via the run-out route thanks to some excellent work from substitute Roland Cato. His dismissal triggered a slide which saw four Red Force wickets fall for 22 runs off 40 balls, to leave Red Force on 181-5 the 37th over.
Simmons shared an 81-run opening stand with Evin Lewis (37) and a 78-run second-wicket stand with Nicholas Pooran (17). Captain Kieron Pollard then hit 31 off 35 balls with three huge sixes but fell close to the end when he was well caught by Cato off left-arm spinner Larry Edward (2-48).
“In the first game I didn’t get a score, so coming into this game I wanted to do something special for the team. It feels good to get a hundred, but I would have liked to see it home,” Simmons said.
“We are playing a good brand of cricket and we now have two wins in our two matches so we want to continue the winning ways."
All-rounder Kerron Cottoy had earlier top-scored with 72 from 75 balls while captain Sunil Ambris stroked 66 from 77 balls to help Volcanoes rally.
Off-spinner Jason Mohammed (3-50) and fast bowler Anderson Phillip (3-63) made inroads in the Volcanoes innings while left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein opened the bowling and ended with 2-25.
At the close of play, the Windwards batting a second time were 157 for 7 with Larry Edward (29) and Kenneth Dember (9) the batsmen at the crease. Asked to bat again, the Windwards found the going hard early on as the typically dependable Devon Smith was dismissed for a duck in the first over, bowled by Nial Smith. They lost Teddy Bishop (15), the team’s other opener, soon after, to leave the score at 20 for 2.
Alrick Athanaze maintained his good form for the match after first hunkering down at the crease with Kavem Hodge to briefly stop the rot. Hodge was, however, uprooted when he was dismissed lbw off the bowling of Keemo Paul for 15. Keron Cottoy added 12 before being dismissed by Clinton Pestano and Denis Smith added just four runs before departing two overs later with the score at 77 for 5, after also falling victim to Pestano.
Veerasammy Permaul delivered the crucial wicket of Athanaze, who made 58, in the 29th over with the team struggling at 125 for 7. Paul, Permaul, and Pestano have so far taken two wickets each with Smith claiming one.
Earlier, resuming the day at 181 – 5, still trailing the Winwards first innings tally of 339 by 155 runs, Singh held the Harpy Eagles innings together along with Paul as the pair put on a solid 146 for the 6th wicket to change the complexion of the match. Paul was eventually dismissed, after putting 77 on the board, when he was trapped lbw by Kenneth Dember. Singh departed two overs later, just seven runs short of a century when he was stumped by Smith off Dember. With the score then at 290 for 7, the team added another 37 runs to move to within 12 of the total.
