Pride chasing regional title

With just one more round of matches remaining in the West Indies Championship, Barbados Pride are in with a chance of lifting the title and the staggering US $250 000 first place prize.

Last weekend’s results in the West Indies Championship have set the stage for an intriguing final round which gets underway on Wednesday.

With the title race still wide open as a result, attention this week will turn to the fixtures facing the top four, with all needing to win.

Barbados entered the penultimate round in third position, but a nine-wicket victory over the Leeward Islands Hurricanes has propelled them to second position on 87.8 points, less than two points behind the Windward Islands Volcanoes, who lead the table with 89.6 points.

Both defending champions Guyana Harpy Eagles, who occupy third place on 87.2 points and the fourth-placed Hurricanes (82.6 points), are still in with a shot of lifting the trophy.

Barbados will be heavy favourites to win their last round match against the West Indies Academy at Coolidge Cricket Ground and regain the title they last won in 2022.

The Academy has only won only twice in six outings and sit in seventh place in the eight-team standings on 54.2 points.

Harpy Eagles, meanwhile, who have gone on a run of four straight wins after difficult results in their first two matches, take on winless Combined Campuses and Colleges – who lie bottom on 26.6 points – at the Frank Worrell Memorial Ground at UWI St Augustine.

If the Volcanoes are to maintain their lead and lift the trophy, they will have to get past the Hurricanes at the Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium in Antigua.

Both teams possess identical records of four wins and two defeats, and have produced inconsistent form over the last three rounds.

In the other game, Scorpions will look to finish their campaign on a winning note when they host Trinidad and Tobago Red Force at Sabina Park.

Scorpions lie sixth on 57 points while Red Force are fifth on 72.8 points. (CMC/RB)