JAMAICA won a place in the final of the Carib Beer International Challenge Trophy after leading the Windward Islands on first innings in the drawn semi-final match that ended on Sunday at Alpart and for that, they deserve a round of applause.
In a wonderful performance highlighted by a century innings from David Bernard Jnr., some fine bowling from pacers Andrew Richardson and Daren Powell, offspinner Nehemiah Perry and right-arm legspinner Odean Brown, and a few brilliant catches, Jamaica led the Windward Islands by 89 runs and then closed the door with Chris Gayle smashing 71 off 88 deliveries, Lambert posting a career-best 82, and Keith Hibbert grabbing the opportunity to tick off his maiden first-class century.
ANGRY FANS
The occasion was marred, however, by angry fans who questioned Jamaica's decision to bat on and on, who gathered in the vicinity of the players' enclosure during the tea interval shouting their disapproval, and who, 12 minutes after tea with Jamaica on 372 for five and leading by 461 runs, threw bottles on to the field and forced match referee Hugh Perry, after consulting the umpires, to abandon the game with 26.2 overs remaining.
Regardless of the reasons, unruly behaviour by the fans should not and cannot be tolerated. On Sunday, however, they were pushed to the edge, and regardless of what they may say in their defence, Jamaica and the management team must share the blame for the premature end to the game.
According to one explanation coming out of the Jamaica camp, with first innings lead in a drawn match good enough to take them into the final, Jamaica were not prepared to give the Windward Islands a chance.
Another explanation was that Richardson was nursing a shoulder injury, and still another was that they did not want to overwork their bowlers when there was no necessity to do so.
While no one expected them to give the Windward Islands a chance, while the fans themselves would have heckled them out of the ground had they done so and lost the match, what Jamaica did at Alpart on Sunday afternoon was an insult to the fans who paid their money to see the day's play.
At lunch, the lead was 326 with 59 overs to go, and although there were fans calling for a declaration, although it was unlikely that the Windward Islands could have won from there, it was possible, and Jamaica, rightly so, decided not to declare.
The insults came after that.
One hour after tea, the lead was 369 with 45 overs to go, and even without Richardson, even if the other bowlers on call were all like me and not like Powell, Bernard, Perry, Brown and Lambert, victory for the Windward Islands was out of the question.
At tea, the lead was 450 with Hibbert already on a century, and with 29 overs to go, to continue batting was the final insult that really fanned the anger of the fans.
TOTAL DISRESPECT
With Perry padded to bat next, Jamaica, it appeared, were simply going to bat out the day in total disrespect for the game, for the opposition, and for the fans for the people who not only provide the atmosphere at matches, who, by paying at the gates, not only help to keep the game going, but who, by their presence, help to attract sponsors.
The fans had no right to throw bottles on to the field, and the match, or whatever it had become by then, probably would not have been abandoned so quickly had it not been dragging to a draw.
The fact, however, is that Jamaica, safely into the final hours before, contributed to the embarrassment, and the Jam-aica Cricket Association and its the directors of the JCA, should let them know that.
Tony Becca
FROM THE BOUNDARY
