The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket

Jamaica Prevails in Uitvlugt Thriller

Fri, Oct 22, '04

 

Marlon Samuels from MICHELLE McDONALD in Guyana

In stark contrast to their match yesterday, Jamaica was clinical in their performance today when they bowled and fielded with precision to beat Barbados in an exciting encounter at the Uitvlugt cricket ground on the west coast of Demerara.

As the Jamaicans travelled over the fourth longest floating bridge in the world this morning on their way to the rural ground, captain Gareth Breese must have been pondering ways in which to lift his team after an embarrassing loss against Trinidad & Tobago yesterday. In the end, his bowlers, himself included, turned in a disciplined performance to successfully defend their small total of 165 all out.

Earlier, Barbados won the toss and as so many captains predictably do, inserted Jamaica. However, it is said that the Guyanese from this region rely on the time of the tide of the murky waters of the Atlantic which borders the ground, to decide whether to bat first or second. When they batted, it seemed as if Jamaica was swimming against the tide when wickets started to tumble at regular intervals. Seven wickets fell from the northern (Atlantic) end with Ryan Hinds, Ian Bradshaw and Antonio Mayers accounting for two each and Sulieman Benn the other.

The highlight of the Jamaica innings was a well constructed 54 from Marlon Samuels. When he was out caught by Sherwin Campbell off Mayers in the 47th over, he had accounted for approximately one third of Jamaica's disappointing total.

The elegant right hander had come to the crease in the 14th over to join Brenton Parchment when Xavier Marshall was caught by Barbados wicketkeeper and captain Courtney Browne for 26. The out of favour Samuels, playing in front of all three West Indies selectors, was a balanced mixture of aggression and caution. In the 22nd over, he hit the tall Barbadian spinner Benn for a six which took the ball high over the commentary box into the busy road behind, where a school boy, probably on his way into the ground, returned the ball with a strong throw to the cheers of the spectators. In the next over, Samuels hoisted Ryan Hinds to wide mid on towards the sea wall for another six.

During his 33-over stay at the crease, Samuels saw Parchment out caught by Dwayne Smith at backward point off Bradshaw for 16, Wavell Hinds caught Browne also off Bradshaw for 1, Carlton Baugh Jr stumped Browne for 3, Breese caught Benn bowled Hinds for 7, and David Bernard Jr caught Bradshaw bowled Mayers for 6.

The Barbadian camp must have thought that overhauling 165 was going to be like a walk on the sea wall, and when Martin Nurse raced to 20 at the end of the third over, Barbados was indeed cruising. In the next over, Jamaica struck twice when first, Evon Mcinnis, bowling from the southern end, had Sherwin Campbell caught by Baugh Jr for 7 and then took a return catch from Dwayne Smith for 1.

Marlon Samuels, working in tandem with off spinner Chris Gayle, helped to reduce the run rate which at one point had sky rocketed to 8 per over. Gayle struck in the 12th over, accounting for the dangerous Martin Nurse, caught and bowled for 45 on a pitch with variable bounce. The score was then 68 for 3. Samuels had a catch dropped by McInnis at extra cover which would have sent Ryan Hinds back into the pavilion. It did not prove to be an expensive error as three overs later, Gayle trapped Hinds lbw for 11.

The new batsman was the hobbling Floyd Reifer who had earlier injured his ankle while fielding. Batting with Dwayne Smith as a runner, Reifer was in obvious discomfort and did not trouble the scorers when he departed at 83 for 5.

A sharp piece of fielding saw Antonio Mayers run out six overs later in the 27th off the bowling of Miller for 9. In the very next over, Courtney Browne survived a loud lbw shout by Breese, who could be the subject of the umpires' match report when he openly showed dissent at not being give the decision.

The Jamaica captain would have felt redeemed when in his next over, Ryan Hurley suffered from a rush of blood to the head and charged Breese only to be bowled for 1 with the score then on 115 for 7.

Could Browne and Bradshaw do for their country what they did for the West Indies in the ICC Champions trophy? With the asking run rate hovering around 3 per over, the task was less challenging than their recent feat and they set about doing a repair job to inch closer to the target of 166 runs.

The pair put on 24 for the eight wicket before left arm orthodox spinner Nikita Miller had the Barbados captain caught by the Jamaican captain at extra cover to pick up his second wicket of the match. It was now left up to Ian Bradshaw to bat with a level head to see his team through to the victory, but a mix up with Sulieman Benn during Xavier Marshall's solitary over resulted in him walking back to the pavilion with the score on 157 for 9.

Last man in Corey Collymore, who had spent much of the Jamaica innings off the field after bowling five overs, blocked the last ball of the over when Benn had hit a single on the previous ball to keep the strike for the 45th over. Christopher Gayle, the man who has been so often called upon to bowl at the death, did the job and bowled a maiden, with Benn looking very tentative against the spin.

Fast bowler Dwight Washington was the man who Gareth Breese turned to as replacement for Marshall at the southern end. The tall big rookie had been taken advantage of in the only two overs he had bowled at the start of the innings. The first four balls of the 46th over were successfully blocked by Collymore. On the penultimate ball, the West Indies pacer edged to Chris Gayle at slip and the Barbados innings had ended on 158 runs.

Said Washington about that final over, "I had a little bit of nerves, but I knew what the plan was and I just stuck to it and it worked out in the end. The plan was to bowl full, block-hole balls and it worked in the end and I'm glad. I'm happy."

He was not the only one. Captain Gareth Breese had high praise for his bowlers. "Samuels and Gayle have been coming in and pegging it back for us. Nikita Miller coming back after an injury, bowled really well and the guys fielded well and I couldn't ask for anything more," said a smiling Breese after the victory.

For the seven-run win, Jamaica takes away four points to stay afloat in the competition like the Demerara bridge, and join the Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana teams on eight points. A similar performance on Sunday against the Guyanese at Bourda will be the aim of the Jamaicans, in order to avoid flying west on Monday when the teams leave Guyana for the semi final round to be played in Barbados.