By Tony Becca, Contributing EditorTHE THREE-day match between the England cricketers and a Jamaica XI ended its second day at Sabina Park yesterday with the tourists, warming up for the first Test against the West Indies, enjoying another good day.
After rattling up 320 on the first day of their first match of the tour, the England cricketers, playing tight, easing up a bit and playing tight again, dismissed the Jamaica XI for 281 and were 51 for one in their second innings. On the first day, batsmen Michael Vaughan, 105, Nasser Hussain, 65, Graham Thorpe, 34, and Chris Read, 61, paraded their skills. Yesterday it was the bowlers' turn and although they appeared to be simply going through their paces while bowling short spells under a hot sun and on a slow pitch, pacers Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, James Anderson and allrounder Andrew Flintoff looked good - and so too left-arm spinner Ashley Giles who picked up one wicket for 13 runs off 10 overs in his first spell. Although he added only one more to his two wickets on the previous afternoon, Hoggard was the pick of the five bowlers - particularly so in his first spell from the south when he got the ball to leave the batsmen and to bounce appreciably.
Batting for Jamaica, Mario Ventura scored 53, Shawn Findley 51, Danza Hyatt 21, Lorenzo Hyatt, 21, Matthew Sinclair 42, and Evon McInnis 41 on a day of slow, unexciting cricket as the home team's batsmen, despite a few powerful strokes and some elegant ones here and there, failed to get on top of some accurate bowling.
Findley, starting the day on 16, played a glorious drive through extra-cover off Hoggard early in the morning; in mid-afternoon, Ingram hit part-time offspinner Vaughan straight for six.
After tea, with the score on 218 for seven, Sinclair won two rounds of applause from the handful of spectators when he eased on to the front-foot and drove Rikki Clarke through extra-cover and then rocked back and punched the medium-pacer to the cover boundary.
Then towards the end and before the tourists took the second new ball at 268 for seven and quickly wrapped up the innings, McInnis enjoyed himself with some powerful strokes - including a one-handed sweep over square-leg for six off Giles.
Surprisingly, however, the best of Jamaica came from the usually dogged left-hander Ventura who entertained his friends in the Kingston Club pavilion with a number of attacking strokes before he was run out in the second over after tea.
