Date-stamped : 06 Oct97 - 18:09
October 6, 1997

Jamaica squeeze home

Tony Becca, Senior Sports Editor

CRICKET: Jamaica ticked off their first victory in the Red
Stripe Bowl limited over cricket tournament when they defeated
Trinidad and Tobago in a low scoring second round contest at
Chedwin Park yesterday.

Powered by their West Indies pacers, Franklyn Rose and Courtney
Walsh, Jamaica, after losing the toss and sent to bat in
overcast conditions and on a slow but friendly pitch, skittled
the visitors for 84 in 42.3 overs, and then, after some anxious
moments caused by another disappointing batting performance,
squeezed to victory at 85 for seven off 33.4 overs.

In winning the game, Jamaica, who escaped with one point in
Saturday's rain-ruined game against the Windward Islands at
Melbourne Oval, are now on three points, and with only Bermuda
to play before the Zone A quarter-finals, in with a chance of
topping the zone.

Jamaica, who were reeling at 72 for five in reply to the
Windward Islands' 215 for nine in the opening round, take on
Bermuda, who are still to get off the mark, at Alpart on
Wednesday, with the Windward Islands, also on three points,
going against Trinidad and Tobago at Folly Oval.

Trinidad and Tobago, victors over Bermuda on Saturday, are on
two points.

According to the adjudicator, the man of the match was Walsh who
finished with the impressive figures of four for 15 off 8.3
accurate overs. The man who set up the victory however,
especially after the lack-lustre, almost embarrassing
performance of the home team's batting, was Rose who finished
with three for 24 off nine overs - all three in one over.

The match between the two top-rated teams in the zone, was
expected to be a thriller - a battle between a batting team
which included Brian Lara, Suruj Raganooth, and Phil Simmons,
and a bowling combination which included fast bowlers Walsh,
Rose, Patrick Patterson and Laurie Williams. That however, was
not to be.

After opening up with a maiden over which included a first ball
beauty which flashed Ragoonath's defence, the Jamaican pacer,
running in from the south on an outfield made soft by early
morning rain, knocked the Trinidadians dizzy in a second over
during which he sent Andre Lawrence, Ragoonath and Brian Lara
packing as the Trinidadians reeled at nine for three in the
third over.

Lawrence, clipping off his pads, was caught by Samuels at
square-leg for zero at seven for one, Ragoonath was bowled
offstump by a lovely yorker for six at 9 for two, and Lara, the
holder of the world individual record at Test and firstclass
level, went leg before wicket for a first-ball "duck" - the
lefthander beaten for pace as he went back and across.

After that, with Patterson keeping things tight and conceding
only 11 runs off his seven overs, with Walsh and Williams - two
for 19 off 10 - ripping through the order, and the fielders,
including wicketkeeper Shane Ford, backing them up, only a
stubborn, uncharacteristic innings by Simmons saved the Trinidad
and Tobago batsmen from total embarrassment.

Joining the action at nine for three, Simmons batted for 117
minutes, faced 65 deliveries, and struck one six and one four
before Nehemiah Perry produced a brilliant piece of fielding to
run him out for 34 at 71 for seven in the 34th over.

Two overs after hitting Perry over midwicket for one of the two
sixes in the match, Simmons went onto the backfoot, hit a short
delivery toward mid-off and set off for a run.

Non-striker Ian Bishop did not respond. That however, was not
what caused his downfall. Simmons' downfall was the result of a
brilliant Perry who ran back and to his left, fielded the ball
cleanly and sent the throw straight to wicketkeeper Ford.

Left with what was considered an easy target despite the
presence of fast bowlers Ian Bishop and Mervyn Dillon, spin
bowlers Kenneth Hazel and Rajendra Dhanraj, and medium pacer
Simmons, the Jamaican batsmen, made heavy weather of it and got
home just in time.

At first, against left-arm spinner Hazel who opened the bowling
and Dillon, the Jamaicans looked good with Leon Garrick and
Robert Samuels stroking the ball confidently and going to lunch
at 14 without loss after four overs.

After the interval however, and although the first six batsmen
in the order got into double figures, wickets tumbled regularly.

The first to go, from a defensive stroke, was Garrick - caught
by wicketkeeper David Williams off Simmons for 11 at 19 for one
in seventh over; the second was Wavel Hinds - leg before wicket
going back to Dillon for 10 at 30 for two in the 14th; and the
third was Samuels for 13 off 49 deliveries at 50 for three in
the 21st over - a careless drive off Bishop lobbing to Lawrence
at mid-off.

At that stage, it still appeared that Jamaica would get home
comfortably.

When Tony Powell, after two lovely boundaries off Bishop, left
the scene for 12 at 63 for four after slicing a square-drive off
Dillon straight to Lara at second slip however, when Delroy
Morgan, after facing 51 deliveries, hit a high, floating full
toss from Dhanraj to Dillon coming off the midwicket boundary to
depart for 14 at 70 for five, when Laurie Williams was bowled
middle stump by Simmons for 12 at 77 for six, and when Ford,
going back for a second, was runout for one at 78 for seven
following a lovely throw by Richard Smith coming in from
backward square-leg, there were many nervous fans around
beautiful Chedwin Park.

When the victory came, thanks to a few lusty blows by Perry, and
a couple of wides from Dhanraj, it was greeted by a sigh of
relief.

Source :: The Jamaica Gleaner (http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/)

Monday, October 6, 1997

Brian Lara: Don't panic

Trinidad Express

SAME pitch. Maybe even a better batting surface to what we met
against Bermuda. Yet we could only muster 84. This sort of
performance baffles me.

It does. It baffles me as much as it baffles you. I'm part of
the batting, so of course I must shoulder some of the blame.
Against Bermuda, it was three wickets. But yesterday, it was
half the team back in the pavilion in the first 15 overs.

Something will have to be done about this pattern, because we
definitely need more stability at the beginning of our innings.
Possibly, moving Philip up to number three could stop that early
collapse. Our focus over the next couple of days, therefore,
will be the batting. We'll be trying our best to work out some
of the problems in the nets.

Whenever we're bowling, I can always switch the bowlers around,
or replace one if he's having difficulties. But it's impossible
for me to do such things when we're batting.

Our batsmen have to realise their responsibility, and stop
leaving it up to the other player. To say "if only" we had made
another 20 runs is, of course, no good when it's too late.

I entered the field to a lot of loud and negative comments from
the spectators. That did not have as much effect on me as the
late inswinger from Franklyn Rose. I think the ball would have
missed off-stump and leg-stump, but definitely hit middle. That
was the third time I was ever out first ball. All in One-day
cricket.

On the brighter side, however, yesterday we had Simmons
continuing his form to post a steady 34, amidst the constant
fall of wickets. Bishop, 22 not out, also showed commendable
form.

Let me do some mathematics for you, even though I know you can
work it out yourself: between Simmons, Bishop and extras (five),
the total is 61. Subtract that from 84, and you get 23. Ragoo,
Lawrence, Roberts, Lara, Smithy, Willie, Hazel, Dillon and
Dhanraj, could only average 2.5 runs each. It's obvious if we're
going to win this Red Stripe Bowl, our batting will have to
improve.

If our batting could only learn from our approach to bowling, I
don't think we'd have such a problem. We defended those 84 runs
admirably, and I always thought we had a slight chance.

Jamaica won by three wickets, but with Perry and Franklyn
batting at the end, and only Walsh and Patrick Patterson to
come, the game was never over till the last run.

I was most impressed with Phil Simmons and Mervyn Dillon. I
thought they were the pick of our bowlers. Phil took two wickets
for 20 runs, and Merv two for 17.

Bishop (one for 21 from 6.4 overs), Dhanraj (one for 14 from
four), and Hazel (none for12 off three) all bowled well. One
thing we set out to improve in this game was our fielding, and I
must report we did achieve that. Maybe it was because of the
small total we were defending, everybody seemed very focused in
the field. We caught everything, and our ground fielding was
superb.

In the other Zone A match, the Windwards continued their good
run, and surpassed our Saturday total against Bermuda, scoring
332 for four, and recording a comfortable 125-run victory over
the same team. Tomorrow (Monday), we head to Jamaica's north
coast to meet the Windwards on Wednes-day.

It's not time yet to press the panic button. In our first match
at this very ground last year, the Leewards played all over us,
bowling us out for 116, and achieving victory without raising an
eyebrow. Still, we were able to pull ourselves back to become
champions. Some of the other players remembered this yesterday,
saying "we always do something disastrous as this, which ends up
forcing us get our act together". I hope it holds true this
year.

Source :: The Trinidad Express (http://www.trinidad.net/express/)
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