GEORGE­TOWN–

In yet an­oth­er dis­mal show­ing, the vis­i­tors went down by ten wick­ets to two-time reign­ing cham­pi­ons, Guyana Jaguars in the fifth round en­counter at the Na­tion­al Sta­di­um here, a de­feat which ef­fec­tive­ly left their cam­paign in cri­sis.

Red Force en­tered the con­test � the fi­nal one be­fore the Christ­mas break � rock bot­tom and will re­main last in the six-team stand­ings af­ter man­ag­ing 3.2 points to move to 35.6.

Jaguars, mean­while, col­lect­ed 20.6 points to move to 67.4 points, clinch­ing their first vic­to­ry since the open­ing round when they crushed Ja­maica Scor­pi­ons.

Re­sum­ing the fi­nal day on 96 for two with a big task of sav­ing the game, Red Force were dis­missed for 235 in their sec­ond in­nings.

Open­er Kyle Hope, un­beat­en on 20 overnight, made 40 while Ja­son Mo­hammed got 36, cap­tain Yan­nick Ot­t­ley 31 and Yan­nic Cari­ah, 27.

Left-arm spin­ner Veerasam­my Per­maul was once again at the heart of the at­tack, claim­ing five for 53 to end with match fig­ures of nine for 93 while fast bowler Keon Joseph (2-38) and left-arm spin­ner Gu­dakesh Motie (2-92) fin­ished with two wick­ets apiece.

Set 20 for vic­to­ry, Jaguars need­ed on­ly 16 de­liv­er­ies to get home, with Shim­ron Het­my­er stroking an un­beat­en 17 from 15 balls with two fours and a six.

Still re­quir­ing a fur­ther 120 runs at the start of the day to make Jaguars bat again, Red Force were in ear­ly trou­ble when they lost night­watch­man Khary Pierre (5) in the fifth over of the day at 112 for three.

Hope and Mo­hammed then added 35 to re­pair the dam­age, rais­ing hopes of Red Force get­ting some­thing from the game.

While Hope faced 185 balls and struck three fours and a six, Mo­hammed count­ed four fours and a six in a flu­ent 66-ball knock.

Hope was even­tu­al­ly caught, hook­ing at Joseph at 147 for four to leave Red Force on 151 for four at the in­ter­val.

Un­beat­en on 26 at lunch, Mo­hammed per­ished fol­low­ing a de­layed re­sump­tion be­cause of rain, caught at the wick­et off left-arm seam­er Ray­mon Reifer.

Stut­ter­ing again at 169 for five, Cari­ah and Ot­t­ley made a last ditch ef­fort to res­cue the game in stand of 39 for the sixth wick­et.

How­ev­er, once Cari­ah was lbw to Per­maul, Red Force lost their last five wick­ets for 27 runs. CMC