Tony Becca - FROM THE BOUNDARY THE ACTION in Zone A of the Red Stripe Bowl limited-overs cricket tournament continues today, and as it is in Zone B in Antigua, five matches have been played, all five teams have played two matches each, and so far, so good.
Unlike Zone B where defending champions Barbados and Guyana were early favourites to be the top two teams and where Barbados have lost one, Zone A has been going according to expectations with the two teams tipped to get to the semi-finals, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, winning their two matches, the Windward Islands one, and the Leeward Islands X1 and Canada still to get off the mark.
With four points for a win, two for a tie or a no-result, and one for a loss, the points standing in Zone A now reads, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago eight each, the Windward Islands four, and the Leeward Islands X1 and Canada, thanks to the generosity, or the folly of the West Indies Board, on two each despite losing both their matches.
Looking at the matches already played, the opening match between Trinidad and Tobago was heading for a tight finish before rain intervened. That was a pity as with the Windward Islands scoring 196 for six and then routing Canada for 69 in 34.5 overs; Jamaica scoring 281 for seven and then dismissing the Leeward Islands for 177 in 47.2 overs; Trinidad and Tobago knocking off Canada for 112 and then chipping to 113 for four off 21.3 overs; and Jamaica removing the Windward Islands for 146 and then racing to 151 for three off 27.2 overs; all the other matches have been unexciting, one-sided affairs.
There have been some excitement for the fans, however, and although Stuart Williams of the Leeward Islands X1 started off the tournament with a fantastic catch at cover to dismiss Imran Jan of Trinidad and Tobago, even though Brian Lara of Trinidad and Tobago played a really magnificent square-drive for six against Canada, most of it have come from Jamaica whose batsmen have been blasting sixes left, right and centre.
Led by Wavell Hinds, Ricardo Powell and Marlon Samuels with five each, Jamaica have hit 24 sixes in two matches - 16 against the Leeward Islands X1 and eight against the Windward Islands, and some were no ordinary sixes.
ROCKETS
Some were hit with such power, such timing, that they took off like rockets and landed way beyond the boundary after sailing over houses and trees; some, like the one by Samuels off left-arm spinner Virgil Browne that slammed into the concrete sightscreen at Kensington Park, did not leave the premises only because they were not high enough.
The pick of the lot, however, was Brenton Parchment's front-foot drive over extra-cover off pacer Cameron Cuffy at Alpart on Sunday. Not far behind was the same batsman's sweep off Shane Shillingford over square-leg. The shot was so perfectly timed that the sound of the bat hitting the ball echoed around the ground like the sound of a bullet leaving a rifle.
BEST OF THE DAY
If you ask the majority of the thousands of fans who were at Alpart, however, they will tell you that the best of the day came from Ricardo Powell's bat when, with the scores level and one run needed for victory, he went back and pulled Fernix Thomas over mid-wicket for six.
Although it was not the best, it was a lovely stroke with the batsman perfectly balanced, and partly because Ricardo Powell is the hero of St. Elizabeth, partly, as one beautiful young lady confessed afterwards, because that is what they turned up to see, it certainly brought a one-sided contest to an exciting finish.
So far, so good. Although the real test is yet to come, Jamaica have been entertaining the fans, and the fans, the scores of them who flocked the players for autographs after the match, certainly demonstrated their appreciation at Alpart on Sunday.
