Tony Becca, ContributingEditor

Trinidad batsman Dave Mohammed celebrates hitting the winning boundary against Jamaica in their Carib Beer Series one-day match at Sabina Park yesterday. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

JAMAICA ENDED their campaign in the 2007 regional cricket season in disappointment at Sabina Park yesterday when they failed to defeat Trinidad and Tobago and missed out on a place in the semi-finals of the KFC Cup.

Going into the match tied with Guyana on eight points and with the Windward Islands three behind, Jamaica were in a position, once the Windward Islands lost to the Leeward Islands, to qualify even if they lost yesterday's encounter.

Unfortunately for Jamaica, however, the Windward Islands won and Guyana failed to beat Barbados and finished with the same number of points as Jamaica, they also, by virtue of their victory over Jamaica, advanced to the semi-finals along with Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and the Windward Islands.

Five in a row

After losing to Guyana in the KFC Cup, to Barbados in both the four-day Carib Beer Series and the one-day KFC Cup and then to Trinidad and Tobago in the Carib Beer Cup, yesterday's loss made it five in a row and all at home for Jamaica.

To Jamaica's credit, however, they fought like tigers - and definitely so when, after an opening blitz by Trinidad and Tobago at the start of their innings, after the visitors had sprinted to 121 without loss off 17 overs, they hit back and just failed to snatch victory before a fair-size home crowd, the largest of the season in Jamaica.

After winning the toss and sending Jamaica to bat on a good pitch for batting, Trinidad and Tobago nailed Jamaica for 223 in 48.4 overs and then, with opening batsmen Denesh Ramdin, 47 off 47 deliveries, and Lendl Simmons, 68 off 60 deliveries, leading the way in a rollicking partnership, powered and then squeezed their way to victory and a perfect five from five at 225 for eight off 44.5 overs.

At the start, with Brenton Parchment hooking pacer Mervyn Dillon for six in the morning's first over and then driving pacer Richard Kelly nicely to the mid-wicket boundary and with Christopher Gayle hitting Kelly high to mid-wicket boundary, things looked promising for Jamaica.

In one Dillon over, however, in three deliveries to be exact, both batsmen were back in the pavilion.

Crisp strokes

For a brief interlude, Marlon Samuels entertained the gathering with some crisp strokes, including a drive for six over long-off and into the Headley Stand off Dillon before he went on to the back-foot, attempted to hit pacer Ravi Rampaul behind point and edged a catch to wicketkeeper Ramdin.

That was 61 for three in the 16th over with Samuels gone for 19, and Jamaica were in trouble.

With captain Wavell Hinds, 63 off 96 deliveries with eight fours and one six, and Tamar Lambert, 58 off 60 deliveries with nine fours, sharing a scintillating fourth-wicket partnership of 99, however, Jamaica reached 160 for three before Lambert, shaping to play medium-pacer Kieron Pollard to leg, mistimed the stroke and was caught by Sherwin Ganga at point.

That was 160 for four in the 32nd over, it was 179 for five when David Bernard Jr. drove at Pollard and was bowled for four. When Hinds drove at Pollard and was caught by substitute Adrian Barath coming in off the long-off boundary, it was 180 for six and the end of the innings was in sight.

The pick of Trinidad and Tobago's bowlers was Pollard who finished with the impressive figures of four wickets for 32 off seven overs.

Hunting a target of 224 at a rate of 4.48 an over, Trinidad and got off to a brilliant start when, with Jerome Taylor bowling the first ball short and wide off the off-stump, Ramdin, promoted to open the innings, reached for the ball and smashed it to the thirdman boundary.

T&T all The way

From there on, but for one mistake when Simmons, on four at 11 in the third over, edged Taylor and Parchment at second slip went for the catch and then pulled away, it was Trinidadand Tobago all the way as Ramdin and Simmons, playing some lovely strokes while scoring at above a run a ball, caned Jamaica's bowlers to such an extent that when Gayle was called into the attack at the start of the 12th over not only was the score 81 without loss, not only had 11 fours been hit from out of the middle of both bats, but in Taylor, Jerome Lawson, Daren Powell, Nikita Miller and Samuels, Jamaica had already used five bowlers in a desperate attempt to stem the flow of runs.

When Simmons went at Daren Powell and skied a catch to David Bernard at extra-cover, however, when, in the following over from Powell, Ramdin cut and Parchment made it 125 for two with a brilliant catch at gully, the door opened a crack, and with Samuels returning to capture four wickets and ending with four for 45 off his 10 overs, the match ended in excitement with Trinidad and Tobago, thanks to a 25-run ninth-wicket stand between Rayad Emrit, 19, and Dave Mohammed, 11, hanging on and denying Jamaica a victory that meant so much to them.

Jamaica innings

B. Parchment b Dillon