FROM THE BOUNDARY By Tony Becca
CRICKET IS a funny old game, and one never knows what will happen down the road. Based on their performances so far in the Busta Series, however, Jamaica, once the joint leaders and now the sole leaders, are in a good position to land the double - to win the Busta Cup and the Busta International Shield.
After coming out second best to the Windward Islands in a drawn match, Jamaica have come back well - so well that they have knocked off Guyana, Barbados and the Leeward Islands one after the other and in convincing style.
Jamaica, the defending Shield champions, have been so good that Guyana fell by seven wickets, Barbados by an innings and 39 with a day to spare, and the Leeward Islands by 131 runs; and while it should not matter as far as the matches against the West Indies B and Bangladesh A are concerned, if they continue to be that good, they should also be too good for Trinidad and Tobago.
Remembering that all three victories have been at home, what has really been impressive, however, is not so much the victories but the way the Jamaicans have been playing.
Looking on from the boundary, there is good team spirit and there is good discipline in terms of their approach to winning.
Although it is usually so when teams are winning, it seems the players are pulling for each other, and it appears that the discipline is so good that they are following the plan of action as discussed by the captain and the management team.
At Kaiser, particularly on the third afternoon when, with the decision to declare having been made, all the batsmen, including the defensive Mario Ventura, went for quick runs regardless, the spirit and the discipline were even more in evidence and, once again, Jamaica, who were on the ropes at 85 for six and again when the Leeward Islands 104 without loss replying to 257, won because every one contributed - including David Bernard Jnr. who took two lovely catches.
Special thanks, however, should go to the batsmen.
Gareth Breese, with a haul of six wickets for 57 runs in the first innings, deserved his man of the match award; Laurie Williams, with five for 20 in the second innings, played an important part at the end; and Ricardo Powell's removal of Alex Adams at 104 for one in the Leeward Islands first innings and the quick one-two strike by fast bowlers Darren Powell and Jermaine Lawson at the start of their second innings were decisive blows for Jamaica.
Apart from Breese's stylish, undefeated 53 in the second innings, however, an innings that once again demonstrated his wonderful gift as a stroke player, there were four batting performances that underlined the discipline in this Jamaica team and without which, certainly as far as the first two were concerned, Jamaica may not have ticked off victory number three.
The Kaiser pitch, was soft at the start of play; it was not a good pitch; that is why Stuart Williams, probably believing that he could have won the match from there regardless of how the pitch played later on, sent Jamaica to bat after winning the toss; and that is why the first two batsmen who should take a bow are Ventura and Laurie Williams.
Ventura, going to bat at 55 for four in the first innings, fought for five hours until he was left alone and undefeated.
Normally, 52 is not a score to shout about, and normally 52 in five hours would send the fans to sleep. In the circumstances, however, it was brilliant. It saved Jamaica and set the stage for victory.
Laurie Williams, going to bat at 85 for six, did not fight for as long, but his counter attack while he was there was just as valuable. He was a perfect foil for Ventura, and by the time he was dismissed at 158 for seven for 40 off 88 deliveries in two hours, Jamaica, although not happy, were smiling for the first time that day.
The other two batsmen who should take a bow are Robert Samuels and Keith Hibbert for their performance in the second innings when, with the ball spinning, squatting and kicking because of a pitch damaged when the surface was soft, they batted carefully before gradually taking control and playing some wonderful strokes.
Hibbert, going to bat at four for one, batted for five hours, scored 81, and deserved his maiden century; and in terms of stroke play, Samuels, after changing gear, was almost brilliant. Although he has played some important innings for Jamaica in the past few years, Samuels, who scored 51 after going to bat at 38 for three, has not been as fluent, for Jamaica, for a long time.
The real test of a batsman is performance when the odds are against him.
The odds were against batsmen at Kaiser on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and the reason why Jamaica defeated the Leeward Islands was because of the skill of Ventura and Laurie Williams, Hibbert and Samuels.
