A brilliant spell of spin bowling from vice-captain Khary Pierre (four for eight) helped defending champions TT Red Force to a 60-run win in the first game of the 2024 CG United Regional Super50 tournament versus Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) at the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground at UWI, St Augustine on October 29.
In the build-up to the match, Red Force assistant coach Rayd Emrit, who's currently deputising for David Furlonge because of medical reasons, told Newsday he was dissatisfied with the pitch conditions at St Augustine. Emrit said the practice pitches were underprepared, while the pitch for the match looked to be of a similar nature.
With the batsmen faced with a turning wicket with inconsistent bounce for the Super50 opener, the bowlers had their way. Red Force were bowled out for a modest 194 from their 50 overs, but that score was made to look like a mammoth one as Pierre and leg-spinner Yannic Cariah (three for 31) combined to roll over CCC for just 134 in 38.1 overs.
In their pursuit of 195, CCC appeared to be cruising at 76 for one with the pair of Shaqkere Parris (57 off 68 balls) and TT batsman Kamil Pooran (18 off 61) in the midst of their 67-run stand for the second wicket. The game turned drastically on its head, though, as CCC lost their last nine wickets for just 58 runs.
The slide started with the dismissal of the usually expressive Pooran, who was well caught in slip by Bryan Charles off the left-arm spin of Pierre in the 19th over.
Parris, who featured for four-time Caribbean Premier League (CPL) champs Trinbago Knight Riders as an emerging player in the 2024 season, seemed to be batting on a different pitch as he got to his fifty off 62 balls with a six to mid-wicket off Cariah in the 25th over.
In the next over, though, the 21-year-old Barbados right-hander was dismissed when he tried to cart Cariah for another six – falling to an excellent running catch by Pierre on the square leg boundary. CCC slipped to 102 for three with the fall of Parris' wicket which caused a domino effect as it took just 12 overs for Red Force to take the remaining wickets.
"The way Shaqkere batted at the wicket, I thought he batted well. The bowlers stuck to their plans," said Pierre, who claimed the Man of the Match award. "I think once we got him out, as you could see, it was the end for the rest of the batsmen to come."
Pierre said the pitch was like a bowler's paradise.
"I think once you challenged the batsman's technique, it was just for the batsmen to make the mistake.
"It's a wicket where once the new batsmen come in, it's difficult to start...I think it was easy for us in the end."
Pierre said they observed the wicket was a "challenging" one after being sent in by CCC. And although he felt they were 20 runs short with the bat, Red Force had enough in the tank with the ball to get the job done.
Demario Richards (six off 26) had a miserable stay at the crease before becoming Cariah's third wicket, with allrounder Akshaya Persaud (eight) falling to the miserly Pierre as he
