Jamaican Reserves Hold Their Own

With Jermaine Lawson the only bowler of any repute, a young and raw Jamaican attack managed to bowl out England for 321 on the first day of their three day match with the tourists. On a pitch initially described as something "a blind goat had been let loose on" by Jonathan Agnew, the full strength English lineup lost two early wickets before stabilising to 204 for 3 and then lost their last eight wickets for 157 runs. Wickets were shared amongst the bowlers, with Bevon Brown taking 3 for 74.

England captain Michael Vaughan later commented that the wicket "didn't really deviate much" and described it as a "good wicket, not too dissimiliar to something you'd find on the subcontinent". Noting that the as yet uncut Test strip had a lot more grass on it, he remarked that the wicket had not been particularly helpful to the seamers but had a bit of spin in it.

It remains to be seen whether the young Jamaican batsmen can also provide a contest for England -- captain Brenton Parchment was dismissed by Matthew Hoggard in the first over and rather reluctantly made his way back to the pavilion. At close of play the Jamaica reply was 25 for 2.

First Innings Scorecard:

 M E Trescothick.........b McInnis...............7
 M P Vaughan.............b Lawson..............105
 M A Butcher.............c Brown b Mais..........1
 N Hussain...............lbw Brown..............65
 G P Thorpe..............c Findlay b Keating....34
 A Flintoff..............lbw McInnis.............1
 C M W Read..............st Sinclair b B Brown  61
 R Clarke................c Parchment b Keating...4
 A F Giles...............c Parchment b Mais......5
 M J Hoggard.............lbw Brown..............12
 S J Harmison............not out.................6
      extras 9b, 2lb,1w,7nb                     19       
                                        Total: 320   
                O     M   R  W
 JJC Lawson     11    2  45  1
 DH Mais        14    1  67  2
 E McInnis      11.4  1  55  2
 B Brown        20.1  2  74  3
 L P Ingram     7     1  34  0
 P Keating      14    3  32  2
 B A Parchment  0.2   0   2  0