Tony Becca FROM THE BOUNDARY

AFTER LAST year's dismal performance in which they finished last in the Carib Beer Series after failing to win a match, losing three and drawing two, Jamaica finished this year tied with Guyana in fourth spot after winning one, losing two and drawing two, and after the improve-ment, Jamaicans should be fairly happy.

There cannot, however, be one Jamaican cricket fan smiling today and but for fast bowler Jermaine Lawson who took 29 wickets, Jamaica's bowling was not much better.

Not with left-arm spinner Nikita Miller who played in four of the five matches, finishing with only six wickets, the disappointment, the main disappointment, but for Brenton Parchment, was Jamaica's batting.

Wonderful performance

In a wonderful performance, Parchment scored 543 runs with two centuries, including a top score of 168 not out, at an average of 60.33 and, on top of that, the opening batsman scored two centuries in one match when he was the ninth man out in one innings and not out in the other innings - also an innings in which all 10 wickets fell.

Apart from captain Wavell Hinds, who scored 404 runs at an average of 50.50 and, to a lesser extent, Tamar Lambert with 308 at 34.22, Jamaica's batsmen failed to distinguish themselves with Danza Hyatt, wherever he batted, and Lorenzo Ingram, also wherever he batted, failing to live up to the expectations of those who consider them first-class batsmen.

After missing thefirst match due to the presence of Christopher Gayle and Marlon Samuels, the selectors opened with Hyatt and batted Ingram at number three for two matches, they then dropped Ingram and brought in young Jaime Trenchfield, and then, in their wisdom, dropped Trenchfield after one match - after one opportunity, called back Ingram, sent him to open the innings, and moved Hyatt, who had been dropped from the one-day team because of non-performance, to number three.

The reliance on Ingram and Hyatt, however, was not entirely the fault of the selectors. With Gayle and Samuels away, with Donovan Pagon injured and out of contention, it simply underlined the weakness of Jamaica's batting.

No other batsmen

The harsh reality is that but for the promise of Trenchfield and young Andre McCarthy, there is not another good batsman in Jamaica, and neither of them is ready to perform at the first-class level.

In fact, Trenchfield did not even get into the last West Indies Youth team, an McCarthy was Jamaica's one representative he, who is not even considered one of Melbourne's main bowlers, got into the team mainly because of his bowling.

Parchment, the former successful West Indies Youth batsman who promised so much, batted well, he batted with confidence and with authority, and he played some majestic strokes.

Hopefully, his time has come, and hopefully he, and Lambert, and Pagon, plus Gayle and Samuels will lead Jamaica's batting from next year on.

The absence of more promising batsmen, however - the lack of batsmen who are good enough to walk into a Jamaica team and look good while excelling, suggests that, as it is in West Indies cricket, something is wrong with batting in Jamaica.

As far as West Indies cricket is concerned, and apart from three like Wavell Hinds, Daren Ganga and Devon Smith, one like Dwayne Bravo, and even with one like Runako Morton, there are only five quality batsmen around - five batsmen who are good enough to look the part and to perform at the Test level.

The five are, obviously, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle and Samuels, and it is as simple as that.

Although I have only seen one of them twice and two of them once, Jamaica, for example, do not possess a young batsman as good as the 20-year-old Jason Mohammed, the 19-year-old Kieron Pollard, and the 16-year-old Adrian Barath from Trinidad and Tobago.

Two of them are lovely stroke players, one of them hits the ball cleanly and with authority, and it suggests that something good is happening in Trinidad and Tobago and that their coaches are doing a good job.

All things being equal, all three seem destined to go places.

Not even performing

With David Bernard Jr. scoring only 149 runs in nine innings and averaging only 16.55, with Carlton Baugh Jnr. scoring only 131 runs in nine innings and averaging only 14.55, the failure of Jamaica's number six and number seven did not help the situation.

But when everything is considered, Jamaica's scores of 353 and 185 for seven, 289 and 293, 375 and 64 for three, 132 and 135, 254 and 301 were disappointing, not only because their top batsmen, most of them, failed to perform, but also because they did not, some of them, even look like performing.