Tony Becca, Contributing Editor

Jamaica, winners of their first round match against the Leeward Islands, were well in command of their second-round Carib Beer Series match against newcomers Combined Campuses and College (CCC)when play ended at Kensington Park yesterday.

At stumps on day one of the four-day contest, Jamaica, replying to the CCC's meagre 99, were 103 for two with Xavier Marshall not out on 50 after batting for 169 minutes, facing 111deliveries, stroking five fours and smashing one six.

On a day during which the ball dominated the bat at the start - to the extent that the CCC were struggling at 59 for three off 26 overs before lunch and were bowled out within 40 minutes of the interval, on a day during which the bat then dominated the ball later on - to the extent that Jamaica lost only two wickets while batting for 37 overs and 170 minutes, the combined university team, comprising six Barbadians, were given a rough welcome to the region's first-class tournament.

big collapse

In probably the biggest collapse in the 42-year-old history of the competition, CCC, cornered and then mesmerised by the spin pair of Odean Brown and Nikita Miller who finished with four wickets for 14 runs off nine overs and two for 20 off 13.2 respectively, were ruthlessly destroyed after looking set to put up a fight.

With right-arm leg-spinner Brown bowling from the south and left-arm spinner Miller bowling from the north after switching ends, with the CCC on 91 for three 45 minutes after lunch, Jamaica ripped through their batting, and in 44 minutes the students, most of them batting like novices against the spin of the two Jamaicans, were back in the pavilion with seven wickets falling for eight runs in 12 overs.

solid as a rock

Simon Jackson, one of the three Jamaicans in the team and batting as solid as a rock, was run-out for 31 after batting for 165 minutes and facing 102 deliveries - the left-hander, after a spanking back-foot drive to the extra-cover boundary off pacer Andre Russell, stroking Miller into the covers, racing away for a single, and left stranded by his partner Nekoli Parris.

That was 91 for four and in the blink of an eye, with Brown and Miller turning the screws, with the aggressive Chadwick Walton of Jamaica falling leg before wicket to the wily Miller for two at 93 for five, with captain Shirley Clarke of Barbados swinging wildly against Brown, lofting a catch to Russell running to his right from mid-on, and departing the scene for four at 98 for six, the innings was history.

COMBINED CC 1st Innings

R Currency b Lawson 0

S Jackson (run out) 31

K Wilkinson c wkp Baugh b Nash 34

F Reifer lbw Nash 0

N Parris b Brown 18

+C Walton lbw Miller 2

S Clarke c Russell b Brown 4

J Robinson c wkp Baugh b Brown 0

J Bennett c Nash b Miller

K Kantasingh c Hibbert b Brown 0

J Nowell not out 0

TOTAL (all out - 50.2 overs) 99

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-53, 3-53, 4-91, 5-93, 6-98, 7-98, 8-99, 9-99, 10-99

Extra: (nb6, lb3) 9

BOWLING: Lawson 6-0-24-1; Russell 5-2-11-0; Bernard 7-1-20-0; Nash 10-4-7-2; Miller 13.2-3-20-2; Brown 9-2-14-4.

JAMAICA 1st Innings

X Marshall not out 50

K Hibbert c wkp Walton b Bennett 15

T Lambert lbw b Bennett 30

A Russell not out 0

Extras (lb1, nb6, w1) 8

TOTAL (2 wkts - 37 overs) 103

Fall of wickets 1-30, 2-98

To Bat: W Hinds, B Nash, D Bernard, +C Baugh, N Miller, O Brown, J Lawson.

BOWLING: Bennett 13-4-27-2; Noel 6-1-22-0; Robinson 4-0-32-0; Wilkinson 6-2-16-0; Kantasingh 8-3-5-0.

Position: Jamaica four runs ahead with 8 first-innings wickets standing

Toss: Jamaica

Umpires: Cecil Fletcher, Wycliffe Mitcham.