Hosts and defending champions, the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force, moved to the top of the table in the CG United Super50 Cup with a dominant nine-wicket win over the West Indies Academy at the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground in St. Augustine on Thursday.

The Red Force first dismissed the Academy for a subpar 135 off 34.2 overs after winning the toss and putting them in to bat.

Yannic Cariah was the pick of the bowlers with 4-37 from 8.2 overs and was well supported by fellow spinners Khary Pierre and Bryan Charles who took 3-14 from eight overs and 2-23 from seven overs, respectively.

Joshua Bishop and Rivaldo Clarke were the main scorers for the Academy with 31 and 30, respectively.

The hosts then needed only 26.1 overs to reach 136-1 and secure their third win in four games.

Amir Jangoo top scored with 70* off 78 balls, backing up his 96 scored against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes, while Kjorn Ottley supported well with 42*.

Full Scores:

West Indies Academy 135 off 34.2 overs (Joshua Bishop 31, Rivaldo Clarke 30, Yannic Cariah 4-37, Khary Pierre 3-14, Bryan Charles 2-23)

Trinidad & Tobago Red Force 136-1 off 26.1 overs (Amir Jangoo 70*, Kjorn Ottley 42*)

The Red Force now have 37 points from four games to lead the points standings.

The rest of the points standings are as follows: Barbados Pride (31 points from three games), Leeward Islands Hurricanes (27 points from four games), Guyana Harpy Eagles (25 points from four games), Jamaica Scorpions (20 points from three games), West Indies Academy (16 points from four games), Windward Islands Volcanoes (10 points from three games), Combined Campuses and Colleges (10 points from three games).

The Guyana Harpy Eagles have a 9.8-point lead at the top of the table after round one of the 2023 West Indies Championship.

The Harpy Eagles, who won five straight titles from 2015-2019, have 20 points after hammering defending champions Barbados Pride, who are last with 4.8 points, by 183 runs in round one at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.

The Trinidad & Tobago Red Force and the Windward Islands Volcanoes are second and third with 10.2 and 8.4 points, respectively, after playing to a draw at the St. George’s Cricket Ground in Grenada.

Fourth is occupied by the Leeward Islands Hurricanes with 7.4 points after narrowly missing out on an outright win over the Jamaica Scorpions at Coolidge. Their round one opponents are fifth with 6.2 points.

Round two gets underway on February 8 with Jamaica facing Barbados at Coolidge, the Leeward Islands facing Trinidad & Tobago at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium and the Grenada National Stadium hosting Guyana and the Windward Islands.