Crucial trial match starts today THE SERIES of matches aimed at the preparation and selection of Jamaica's team for the Red Stripe Bowl limited-overs tournament which gets under way next week continues today with the fourth and penultimate trial match at Sabina Park. Action in the 50-over-a-side match is scheduled to start at 9.30 and although a number of the players must be considered automatic choices after three matches at Melbourne Oval, there are still some places up for grabs. With current West Indies players Christopher Gayle, Leon Garrick, Wavell Hinds, and Marlon Samuels plus Ricardo Powell, who deserves a place despite his poor form, and Robert Samuels who is expected to lead the team, the automatic choices, the contest for the six specialist batting places is as good as over. The remaining five places, however, one for the wicketkeeper and four for bowlers are still wide open and could be determined by performances today and Saturday when the final trial match takes place - also at Sabina Park. Keith Hibbert, despite his poor form in the trials with the bat, should be the man behind the wicket. He could, however, be pressured by the likes of Matthew Sinclair and Mel Wint and he will need a good performance to settle things in his favour. The bowling is even more interesting, and certainly as far as getting into the team for the first match is concerned, performance today and Saturday could be vital. The selectors have not yet shown their hand but with the offspin of Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Ricardo Powell and the medium pace of Hinds at their disposal, if they are looking at one offspinner, one legspinner and two speedsters as their specialist bowlers, starting today they will be looking at Gareth Breese versus Nehemiah Perry, left-arm spinners Ryan Cunningham, Marlon Keating and Lorenzo Keating plus legspinner Brian Murphy against each other, and with Jermaine Lawson tipped to get one of the fast bowling places, Darren Powell, Dwight Mais, Warren Medwynter and Audly Sanson also against each other. Gayle and Marlon Samuels, who missed the second and third trial matches, were still in Montego Bay up to yesterday filming a promotional package with West Indies sponsors Cable and Wireless and are likely to also miss today's match. Meanwhile, half centuries by Tamar Lambert and Brenton Parchment led a Robert Samuels' XI to an easy nine-wicket victory over a Wavell Hinds' XI in a two-day practice hit out at Melbourne Oval yesterday. Scores: Hinds' XI 161 from 49.1 overs; Samuels' XI 162-1 off 34.3 overs. Replying to the small total made by Hinds' XI on Tuesday afternoon, Samuels' team started its innings yesterday afternoon with Garrick and Parchment opening. In the third over, Garrick lost his middle stump to a speedy delivery from Medwynter for eight with just 10 runs on the board. However, a 152-run unbeaten second wicket partnership between Parchment and Lambert took their team to the total required without any trouble. Lambert (75 not out) was the more dominant of the two. He hit 10 fours and a six from 93 deliveries in his 135 minutes stay to the wicket. Parchment (67 not out) hit the same number of boundaries as his partner but batted for a little longer, 149 minutes.
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