Jamaica wicket-less on rain-hit opening day

Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

An unbroken opening stand of 90 between Omar Phillips and Romel Currency gave the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) a decent start against Jamaica, heading into today's second day of their West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional Four-day Tournament clash at Chedwin Park, St Catherine.

Play begun at approximately 1 p.m. after the entire first session was abandoned due a wet and soggy outfield - caused by overnight rain. Action is set to resume today at 9:30 a.m.

The left-handed Phillips, who has so far represented the West Indies in two Tests, both of which were against the touring Bangladesh when most of the West Indies senior players boycotted the series due to a dispute, is not out on 53, while Currency has so far contributed 27.

"It's not the ideal position we would like to be in at this stage, as due to the weather and a couple of dropped catches we have found ourselves a little behind," said Jamaica's captain, Tamar Lambert.

"But knowing the calibre of players we have and the fighting spirit of the team I know we will bounce back well and I am looking to us doing so, starting tomorrow," he added.

On a somewhat uneven batting surface, Phillips and Currency took their time to assess the conditions, while Jamaica's bowling attack - without fast bowler Jerome Taylor - lacked penetration for the most part.

Taylor, who usually spearheads Jamaica's bowling attack, is not playing due to the death of his grandmother.

Good start

Leading Jamaica's charge were pacers Andrew Richardson, Jason Dawes, all-rounder David Bernard Jr and leg-spinner Odean Brown. However, none looked really threatening and Phillips and Currency patiently built their innings.

Had it not been for part-time medium pacer Wavell Hinds, who was brought on towards the end on the day and induced Phillips into two drives that surprisingly flew off the edge and through the slip cordon where Simon Jackson, Marlon Samuels and Danza Hyatt were positioned, the CCC would have ended the day without offering a single chance in their 36-over stay at the crease, which was curtailed when the rains came at 3 p.m., thus bringing an early close to the day's proceedings.

"It's a good start on what was a difficult wicket to bat on at first," said CCC captain, Phillips. "The plan now is to come tomorrow and assess the conditions and again be patient as we would like to post a challenging first innings total and put Jamaica under some pressure."