Jamaicans Coming “Hard” As Regional 4Day Resumes

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Jamaica captain Tamar Lambert said his side will continue to play hard, as they seek to win the Regional 4Day Tournament for a fifth straight year.

Jamaica lead the points table with 48 points. Photo: Randy Brooks/windiescricket.com photo

The tournament resumes on Friday with the fifth round of matches, following a one-week break last weekend.

The Jamaicans are out front with a maximum 48 points from their four matches, Trinidad & Tobago are second on 28 points, followed by Barbados and Guyana tied on 24 points, with Combined Campuses & Colleges and Windward Islands on 12 points each, and Leeward Islands at the bottom of the ladder on zero.

“We have been playing pretty well in the tournament so far to have been able to gain maximum points from our four matches,” said Lambert.

“We are pretty happy with the kind of cricket which we have been playing and we are all in good spirits, so we are looking forward to the remainder of the tournament.”

Jamaica will be on the road for the next round of matches, travelling to Port of Spain to face T&T at Queen’s Park Oval in the feature match.

The Jamaicans have dominated T&T in this format of the game since the turn of the century. They have won 10 of the 17 matches between the two sides and have not lost any of the three matches between them at this venue in the same period.

“T&T are always a tough challenge and have had a lot of success in recent times in the limited-overs formats,” said Lambert. “But we have a confident bunch of players and we will also be looking to get maximum points from this match.

“It will be a good game between two high-class teams and the team which can hold its nerve better will come out on top.”

Lambert said his side was well aware of the history that beckons them, if they win a fifth straight title. He said it had been quite revealing to see how the players were coming together to put their energy behind this achievement.

“We have a lot of experienced players in our side, a number of guys close to 30 and over,” he said. “We also have a lot of players that are making a push to play for West Indies and this has also helped to fuel our success in the last few years.”

He added: “We definitely want to win five straight titles, but we will take each game at a time, starting with the match this weekend against T&T.

“Every time we step onto the field, we look to play hard and represent our country to the best of our ability. If we continue to do this, we are sure to claim that fifth title.”

In the other fifth round matches, Barbados will be seeking to enhance their claims for a place in the Final Four, when they hosts Guyana at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown.

At the same time, Leeward Islands will hope a return to home soil will bring them their first points of the season, when they meet Windward Islands at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua.

CCC have a drawn a bye in this round.

KEY STATISTICS FROM THE 2012 REGIONAL 4-DAY TOURNAMENT

Top 5 Batsmen
Narsingh Deonarine (Guyana) 353 runs
Brendan Nash (Jamaica) 350
Assad Fudadin (Guyana) 344
Denesh Ramdin (T&T) 341
Leon Johnson (Guyana) 287

Top 5 Bowlers
Sunil Narine (T&T) 31 wickets
Nikita Miller (Jamaica) 25
Ryan Austin (CCC) 25
Veerasammy Permaul (Guyana) 22
Odean Brown (Jamaica) 20

Top 3 batting performances
Brendan Nash (Jamaica) 205 not out vs Guyana, Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua (4th round)
Chris Gayle (Jamaica) 165 vs Windward Islands, Sabina Park, Jamaica (1st round)
Donovan Pagon (Jamaica) 155 vs Leeward Islands, Sabina Park, Jamaica (3rd round)

Top 3 bowling performances
Sunil Narine (T&T) 8-17 vs Combined Campuses & Colleges, 3Ws Oval, Barbados (1st round)
Ryan Austin (CCC) 7-84 vs Trinidad & Tobago, 3Ws Oval, Barbados (1st round)
Shane Shillingford (Windward Islands) 6-75 vs Jamaica, Sabina Park, Jamaica (1st round)

Top 5 innings totals
Jamaica 454-9 dec vs Guyana, Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua (4th round)
Jamaica 404-8 dec vs Leeward Islands, Sabina Park, Jamaica (3rd round)
Trinidad & Tobago 364-9 dec vs Windward Islands, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad (4th round)
Combined Campuses & Colleges 342 vs Guyana, Warner Park, St. Kitts (3rd round)
Trinidad & Tobago 338 vs Barbados, Kensington Oval, Barbados (3rd round)

Remaining fixtures
5th round: March 9-12
Barbados vs Guyana at Kensington Oval, Barbados
Trinidad & Tobago vs Jamaica at Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad
Leeward Islands vs Windward Islands at Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua

6th round: March 16-19
Barbados vs Leeward Islands at Kensington Oval, Barbados
Trinidad & Tobago vs Guyana at Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad
Windward Islands vs Combined Campuses & Colleges at New Queen’s Park, Grenada

7th round: March 23-26
Combined Campuses & Colleges vs Jamaica at Three Ws Oval, Barbados
Leeward Islands vs Trinidad & Tobago at Warner Park, St. Kitts
Windward Islands vs Barbados at New Queen’s Park, Grenada

Semi-finals: March 30-April 2
Teams and venues to be decided

Final: April 7-10
Teams and venues to be decided