Jamaica need 245 to upset Barbados

KINGSTON: Jamaica and Barbados were heading for a close finish to their Carib Beer Series regional cricket match after the close of play yesterday. Jamaica, needing 245 runs to win, will resume at 39 for one on the fourth and final day today. Barbados have 198 and 251 while Jamaica’s first innings score was 205. Fastbowler Tino Best captured the first Jamaican wicket by removing Lorenzo Ingram for zero in his second over without a run on the board. Ingram’s opening partner, Brenton Parchment on 19 and Maurice Kepple with 10, saw the home team through to the close without further loss. Best made a career-best 42 in an aggressive last wicket stand of 64 with Sulieman Benn who scored 22 to push the Barbados score past 250 and give the home team a challenging total.

Best smashed three sixes off the right-arm offspin of Jamaica captain Gareth Breese, two of them in one over. The innings ended when Benn was caught in the slips off medium-pacer David Bernard. Barbados had lost five wickets quickly right after lunch. Top-scorer Martin Nurse was first out after the break, failing to add to his 77 to be caught by Mario Ventura off Breese with the score on 155. The 18-year-old Nurse struck five boundaries and one six. Following Nurse’s departure, a four-wicket burst by fastbowler Andrew Richardson put Jamaica back on the board. The pacer rocked the lower-order with accurate bowling as the Bajans slumped from a fairly comfortable 154 for four at lunch to 187 for nine. Richardson followed-up with the wickets of captain Courtney Browne, caught behind for 13 and Antonio Mayers who was bowled for two to make the score 178 for six. The former West Indies “B” player, playing his first full season for Jamaica, returned to pick up the wickets of Shawn Graham (25) and Ryan Nurse for zero. He claimed four wickets for 36 runs from 13 overs with Breese picking up three for 79 runs off 29 overs.

Resuming at 54 for two, Barbados lost the wickets of Pedro Collins for seven and Floyd Reifer for 23, both going to Breese. Collins was caught behind by wicketkeeper Keith Hibbert with the score on 77. Nurse and Reifer added 51 runs for the fourth wicket with few problems before Reifer was the victim of a leg before wicket decision by Jamaican umpire Melvin Noble. A win for Jamaica would be the team’s second of the season. Jamaica are in third place with 15 points after drawing their first match against the Windward Islands and beating Guyana in the previous match. Barbados, who leads the eight-team championships with 24 points, are going for a third straight win.