ST JOHN’S, An­tigua – Evin Lewis stroked a cru­cial, un­beat­en cen­tu­ry for the Trinidad and To­ba­go Red Force, but three late wick­ets by vet­er­an spin­ner Veerasam­my Per­maul on Tues­day left de­fend­ing cham­pi­ons Guyana Harpy Ea­gles with a chance of re­tain­ing their West In­dies Cham­pi­onship ti­tle.

Led by Lewis’ sta­bil­is­ing knock of 122 not out off 246 balls, the Red Force looked on track to end the day in the as­cen­dan­cy un­til Per­maul struck three times in the space of five overs to re­duce them to 265 for eight – an over­all lead of 278 runs – head­ing in­to Wednes­day’s fi­nal day of play at the Sir Vi­vian Richards Sta­di­um.

Those late wick­ets com­plete­ly changed the com­plex­ion of the game, which at one stage looked like T&T’s to lose.