Jamaica make strong reply

Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

STRONG batting put Jamaica in a good position to earn first-innings points against England Lions, heading into today's third and penultimate day of their West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional Four-day Tournament clash at Sabina Park.

Replying to England Lions' first innings 358, Jamaica closed the day on 259 for four, 100 runs short of what could determine whether or not Jamaica host one of the tournament's two semi-final matches, starting next weekend.

Jamaica owe their promising position to 60 from opener Simon Jackson, 59 from his opening partner Danza Hyatt, 58 from Marlon Samuels and an unbeaten 56 from Brendan Nash.

The Lions, on the other hand, have been disciplined in the field and have seen their captain James Hildreth employ only five bowlers, led by 19-year-old left-arm spinner Danny Biggs, who took two for 77.

The Lions, who resumed the day on 340 for nine, added 18 runs before Chris Woakes, who was on 104 overnight, was caught by Samuels off left-arm pacer Sheldon Cotterell for 115.

The 21-year-old Cotterell, playing in his third first-class class match, took three for 80, while part-time pacer Danza Hyatt finished with two for 46.

Season's highest first innings total

Chasing their highest first-innings total of the season, Jamaica got off to a rollicking start, courtesy of 126-run opening stand between the left-handed Jackson and right-handed Hyatt.

Jackson, who was the more cautious, lighted up the ground with a number of sweetly timed shots through the cover region on his way to hitting eight fours, while the aggressive Hyatt showed timing and power in hitting five fours and three sixes, most of which went over and through mid-off and mid-on.

Hyatt was to become the visitors' first victim as playing back to Nathan Buck, who was the quickest of all the English bowlers, he could not keep out a creeper and was clean bowled at 126 for one.

The situation got worse for Jamaica when Jackson, who had employed the slog sweep twice against Briggs and got boundaries for it, tried it once too many and, with the score on 132, was caught at deep midwicket.

However, led by Nash and Samuels, who complemented each other via their batting styles, Jamaica were able to stem the fall of wickets as together the pair put on a 93-run stand for the third wicket.

The partnership was ended when Samuels, shortly after reaching his 50 and looking to up the tempo, was caught in spectacular fashion by a backtracking James Harris at long on off the bowling of Buck, with the score on 225.

Samuels' innings, which ended 11 overs before the scheduled close of play, lasted close to three hours and included eight fours and a six.

Captain Tamar Lambert, after driving Buck for two flashy fours through the off side off the second and third balls he faced, was caught by wicketkeeper James Taylor off the next delivery for eight.

Nash will resume batting today with Wavell Hinds who, after batting for 40 minutes and facing 26 balls as he endeavoured to see out the final overs, ended unbeaten on five.

Play resumes today at 10 a.m.

Leewards struggling

At the Beausejour Cricket Ground: Windward Islands made early inroads into the Leeward Islands batting line-up on a rain-hit first day of their final-round match yesterday.

Winnings the toss and choosing to bowl first, the hosts reduced the Leewards to 62 for five at the close, after play started at 3:40 p.m. Early-morning showers forced three inspections by umpires Goaland Greaves and Vivian Johnson before play got under way after tea, with 35 overs allocated for the day's play.

Opener Sherwin Peters (15) and Morland LeBlanc (11) are the only batsmen to have posted double figures, while Kenroy Peters took two for 12.