India ‘A’ beat Jamaica to stay in chase

KINGSTON: India “A” defeated Jamaica by two wickets yesterday to keep alive hopes of qualifying for the Carib Beer Series regional cricket tournament’s semi-finals, which were postponed for a week.

SCORES: Jamaica 129 and 273 vs India “A” 119 and 285 for eight.

The ninth wicket pair of Lakshmipathy Balaji, 28 not out, and Avishkar Salvi (17), saw the visitors to victory 15 minutes after the lunch interval on the fourth and final day. Salvi steered a delivery from fastbowler Jerome Taylor to the third man boundary for four runs to give his team a maximum 12 points. India have 33 points and should they win their next match starting on Friday against last-place West Indies “B,” they would be assured a spot in the semi-finals, which were originally scheduled to begin at the weekend. India arrived a week late to the cricket tournament and missed the first-round match, so the team’s victory on Monday forced the West Indies Cricket Board to reschedule the start of the semi-finals for March 28, and the final for April 4.

“The WICB did not feel it was fair for India ’A’ to forfeit the points for missing the first-round match and, now that they have a chance to make it in the semi-finals for the Carib Beer International Challenge Trophy, we had to shift our dates around,” the board’s Michael Hall said. Jamaica gained four points from yesterday’s match, having taken first innings points. They have 43 points and are also in the semi-finals with Barbados, winners of the 2003 Carib Beer Cup. The other two teams which could qualify are Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, officials said. (AP)