Regional giants clash

Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

Cricket fans could be in for a treat today, weather permitting, when Jamaica meet Barbados in semi-final two of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) regional 50-over tournament at Sabina Park.

The showdown, which was originally scheduled for the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium but was switched at the eleventh hour by the WICB due to "the inclement weather which is affecting the western end of the country due to Tropical Storm Richard", is slated to start at 9 a.m.

Jamaica had a less-than-straightforward progress to the semi-finals. They lost to the Windwards in their opening game under the Duckworth/Lewis scoring method and played to a rain-hit no result with Trinidad and Tobago. The Chris Gayle-led team, however, found their best form to trample the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) by 207 runs in their final group fixture and will be hoping for inspired performances from Gayle, Brendan Nash, David Ber-nard Jr, and recent West Indies selec-tees, Carlton Baugh Jr and Andre Russell, to get past the Barbadians.

Barbados, on the other hand, who brushed aside Guyana, the Leeward Islands, and played to a rain-hit no result with the WICB/Sagicor High Performance Centre, will be looking towards captain Ryan Hinds, Sulieman Benn, Kemar Roach, and Tino Best. The Barbadians would not have been helped by the change of venue, however. They were in Trelawny up to midday yesterday and travelled back to Kingston in late afternoon after the decision was made to move the game to Sabina Park.

"It should be a good contest, as Barbados have a creditable line-up. But we will be backing ourselves to play some good cricket as we would love to make it to the final and give ourselves a chance of winning," said Gayle.

All-round team effort

In the tournament thus far, Jamaica has generally relied on an all-round team effort, with spinners Nikita Miller and Odean Brown performing well against the Windwards, albeit in a losing cause; pacers David Bernard Jr and Krishmar Santokie against Trinidad; and Russell, Gayle and Xavier Marshall against the CCC.

They are also expected to play the same 11 which defeated CCC, with pacer Andrew Richardson, 20-year-old batsman Horace Miller, and the injured Marlon Samuels being left out.

Barbados, meanwhile, defeated Guyana courtesy of a five-wicket haul from Best, the Leewards as a result of a good all-round performance from Hinds, and tight bowling from Benn.

The winners of today's game will play the Leeward Islands in the final on Sunday at Sabina Park.