Jamaica’s under-15 cricketers have promised a better showing against their Leeward Islands counterparts when the two teams clash today in round three of the Cricket West Indies Rising Stars Under-15 Super 50 Championship in Antigua and Barbuda.
The Jamaicans, who opened the tournament with an upset win against defending champions Barbados, suffered a nail-biting super over the loss to Guyana in their second match on Thursday at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
Chasing a revised Duckworth Lewis target of 97 to win, the Jamaicans, who were at one stage 59 for two, folded to be dismissed for 96 in 31.2 overs which forced the contest into a super over following the tie.
Jamaica’s coach Phillip Service said the team’s batting let them down following some less-than-impressive cricket.
‘UNNECESSARY RUN-OUTS
“We lost some crucial wickets in the run chase and with four unnecessary run-outs you are not going to win cricket games that way. We have to learn the lessons from this experience,” said Service.
The Jamaicans had earlier put in a decent effort with the ball to restrict Guyana to 121 in 41.2 overs with captain Nicoli McKenzie bagging four wickets for 25 runs and Demarco Scott grabbing three wickets for 21 runs.
Romario Ramdeholl led the way for Guyana with 54 not out. In Jamaica’s reply, opener Tyson Gordon Jr top scored with 23 from 55 balls with four fours while Joel Williams chipped in with 19 not out.
The Jamaicans will face a confident Leewards team at the Liberta Sports Club with the latter coming off a moral boosting Duckworth Lewis win over Barbados. With that in mind, coach Service said the team has promised a better showing in their third outing and the instructions are simple if they are to get their second win of the campaign.
“We simply have to bat for all the overs and keep our opponents in the field for as long as possible. One of the things that we also must do in this game is to reduce the number of wides and we must also get early wickets and maintain pressure,” Service said.
In other third-round games on today, Trinidad and Tobago take on Barbados at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium while the Windward Islands face Guyana at Coolidge Cricket Ground.