Tony Becca - FROM THE BOUNDARY JAMAICA'S FAILURE to win the Red Stripe Bowl tournament continues to be the topic of discussion among cricket fans and listening to them, they are still disappointed.
As far as they are concerned, Jamaica were so good that there is no way they should have lost - certainly not in the semi-finals.
The fact is that Jamaica played some bad cricket while losing to Guyana. What is gone is gone and apart from commending Guyana for playing some good cricket while defeating Jamaica and going on to win the Bowl, the next assignment is the Carib Beer series and Jamaica should start preparing for that.
Winners of the regional four-day title in 2000 and 2002, winners of the International Series in 2001 and runners-up in 2002 and 2003, Jamaica are expected to again challenge for both titles and depending on when the series starts in relation to the West Indies' tour of South Africa, they should have a good chance of winning one or the other or both.
The problem, however, will be to find the right balance and unlike the Red Stripe Bowl when the players - based on the presence of so many West Indies representatives and the nature of the tournament - selected themselves, this time the selectors will have a tough time selecting the team, particularly if all the players are available.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH
While Jamaica's bowling was good enough for the Bowl, an attack of two fast bowlers, off-spinner Gareth Breese and a set of batsmen who bowl, will not be good enough for the longer version of the game.
In order to win one or both of the titles in the Carib Beer Series, Jamaica will need at least one more specialist bowler, and if all the players are available, if Jermaine Lawson is back, that will not be a problem.
At full strength, an attack of pacers Lawson, Jerome Taylor and Daren Powell and Breese with support coming from medium-pacer Bernard and spinners Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Ricardo Powell, who, in the opinion of many, is a better bowler than Gayle and Marlon Samuels, should be good enough to serve Jamaica well.
One more bowler, however, means one less batsman, and although, despite the failure of the batsmen against Guyana, that should not affect the team, the problem facing the selectors will be which batsman to leave out.
One move, however, would solve that problem - and that move is a change in the captaincy of the team.
SAMUELS AS CAPTAIN
Even if Robert Samuels is forgiven for not moving in at Kaiser when Guyana were on the run, his batting, his timid approach throughout the series and especially so at Kaiser, suggests that he has passed it and that the time has come for him to say goodbye.
The removal of Robert Samuels as captain would leave a space in the team for another bowler and although it appears that had he not been the captain during the Red Stripe Bowl the space would have gone to a batsman, that should not now be the case.
Although it failed at Kaiser, although the top batsmen need to be more responsible, a batting line-up of Christopher Gayle, Brenton Parch-ment, Wavell Hinds, Marlon Samuels and Ricardo Powell, plus David Bernard Jnr., Breese and wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh Jnr. should not need another batsman - certainly not at the expense of a bowler.
A team with three good fast bowlers, a medium-pacer and Breese - Jamaica's most successful bowler in the past two Carib Beer seasons, a team with five specialist batsmen - four of whom can assist the main bowlers, a team with two of the main bowlers also good batsmen, and a team with a wicketkeeper who can bat, would be nicely balanced and should do well if the batsmen bat well.
