Depleted Jamaica face hungry Lions

Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

Second-place Jamaica and leaders England Lions will today face off at Sabina Park, as the preliminary round of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional Four-day Tournament comes to an end.

The contest will see Jamaica, who are expected to be weakened by the omission of injured fast bowlers Jerome Taylor and Andrew Richardson, all-rounder David Bernard Jr and leg-spinner Odean Brown, going all out in an effort to keep their unbeaten record intact heading into next weekend's start of the semi-finals.

The Lions, who have been participating in the tournament on the invitation of the WICB, aim to topple Jamaica and finish on top of the points table, as their players get ready to depart the region and head back home for the start of their domestic county championship.

They lead the tournament with 48 points, three more than joint second-place Jamaica and the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC), while Trinidad and Tobago on 40 round off the top four.

The region's top four teams will contest the semi-finals.

After a fairly successful campaign so far, in which they have notched up two wins and four draws, including four first-innings results, Jamaica will be hard-pressed to beat the Lions without Taylor, Richardson, Bernard Jr and Brown.

Taylor, after picking up a back injury in Jamaica's last game against Trinidad and Tobago, has been ruled out of the contest, while information reaching The Gleaner is that Richardson and Bernard Jr, who did not bowl in the second innings of that same game due to niggling back and knee injuries, respectively, are being rested by the coaching staff.

Brown slated for rest

It is also understood that Brown, who struggled somewhat in the Trinidad and Tobago game, and had been carrying a knee injury since Jamaica's fourth game, is also slated for rest, as the team seeks to preserve its best 11 for the semi-finals.

As it relates to their replacement, it is anticipated that fast bowlers Jason Dawes and Sheldon Cotterell, who have both played two games so far in the tournament, will come into the starting 11, as will off-spinner Bevon Brown and leg-spinning all-rounder Akeem Dewar, who are yet to play a game.

Brown has been part of the team's 13-man squad from the team's first game, while Dewar has been part of reserves and has been in training.

"It has been a fairly hectic fixture and it is somewhat taking a toll on some of our players. But we are not overly concerned as we believe we have adequate replacements, who can still get the job done," said Jamaica's captain Tamar Lambert.

The Lions, in the meanwhile, are expected to field a strong team, albeit two players from their original squad - batsman Ravi Bopara and fast bowler Jade Dernbach - are now at the World Cup.

Their 21-year-old middle-order batsman, captain James Hildreth, who is the tournament's fourth highest run-scorer and has so far belted two centuries and half-century, will lead their batting charge.

Their bowling, in the meantime, will be led by 19-year-old left-arm orthodox spinner Danny Briggs, who took 10 wickets in their last game against the Windward Islands, and with 24 wickets is the tournament's fourth-highest wicket-taker.