Romario Shepherd’s excellent all-round display helped the Guyana Harpy Eagles secure a narrow three-run win over the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force in their Group A CG Insurance Super50 Cup fixture at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on Wednesday.
The Guyanese posted 269-9 off their 50 overs after the Red Force won the toss and chose to field first.
Openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul (25) and Anthony Bramble (42) were able to put on 69 for the first wicket before Guyana lost four wickets for just 17 runs from the 10th to the 16th over to find themselves 86-4.
A crucial 83-run partnership between Tevin Imlach (32) and Sherfane Rutherford (49) propelled them to 169-5 before both fell in quick succession to bring Shepherd to the crease.
The all-rounder then produced an excellent display of power-hitting to ensure that the Harpy Eagles put together a competitive total against a powerful Red Force Batting line-up.
Shepherd smashed a whirlwind 74 not out off just 46 balls including five fours and four sixes as Guyana recovered from 201-9 to post 269-9.
Shannon Gabriel and Sunil Narine did the bulk of the damage for the Red Force with 4-42 from nine overs and 3-17 from 10 overs, respectively.
In their reply, Trinidad & Tobago got contributions from all their batsmen but the score was too much in the end.
Darren Bravo was the chief scorer with a well-compiled 71 while Kjorn Ottley (49), Yannic Cariah (30), Sunil Narine (30 not out), Joshua Da Silva (28), Jason Mohammed (24) and captain Nicholas Pooran (23) all made solid contributions as the Red Force ended their 50 overs on 266-6.
The game came down to the last over with the Red Force needing 11 to win with Narine and Akeal Hosein at the crease. Fast-bowler Clinton Pestano then held his nerve to defend the runs and hand Guyana their first win of the season.
Shepherd completed a solid all-round effort with 2-44 from his 10 overs.