Tony Becca

Jamaica closed off the regional domestic cricket season with a bang at Sabina Park on Saturday afternoon when they defeated Trinidad and Tobago in the Carib Beer Challenge Trophy inside three days, with two days to spare.

Starting with the victory in the Under-15 regional tournament in August, Jamaica followed that with victory in the Under-19 one-day tournament, then with victory in the KFC one-day tournament, then with victory in the four-day Carib Beer Cup and Saturday's success made it a wonder year for Jamaica.

It is hats off, therefore, to all those involved - to the sponsors, the clubs, parishes and to the schools, to the coaches, the selectors, to the captains and to the players.

Perfect record

After the disappointing years of 2006 and 2007, when the team finished fifth on both occasions in the KFC Cup, last in the Carib Beer Cup and then third, it was a remarkable five out of seven, and after finishing second in the Under-19 three-day tournament, after finishing second in the Stanford Twenty20, with a little luck, with a little commonsense, it could easily have been a perfect record of seven out of seven.

Talking about a perfect record, with the Under-15 team winning all five matches and with the KFC team not only winning all five matches but defeating the Leeward Islands by six wickets with 61 deliveries remaining, defeating West Indies Under-19 by nine wickets with 222 deliveries, defeating Barbados by six wickets with 42 deliveries remaining, defeating Guyana by seven wickets with 16 deliveries remaining and defeating Trinidad and Tobago by 28 runs, everything was almost perfect.

But for a little hiccup when they only led Trinidad and Tobago on first innings in a drawn match and when they lost to Barbados, by defeating the Leeward Islands by five wickets inside three days with one to spare, by defeating the Combined Colleges and Campuses by 10 wickets inside three days with one to spare, by defeating Guyana by eight wickets inside three days with one to spare, by defeating the Windward Islands by 10 wickets inside two days with two to spare, and then by defeating Trinidad and Tobago by nine wickets inside three days with two to spare, they were just as dominant, almost as perfect in both the Carib Beer Cup and the Carib Beer Challenge Trophy.

Jamaica team questioned

There are some questions, however, which should be answered. How good, for example, are Jamaica?

Are they as good as the stats suggest, or based on the standing of the West Indies in world cricket, are they nothing more than a one-eyed man in a blind man's country?

Hopefully, they are better than that and hopefully they will prove it some day.

There are, however, some little signs that there is still a lot of work to do.

With Nikita Miller leading the way with 42 wickets at the top of the standings, with fast bowler Jerome Taylor finishing in fifth position with 24 wickets after missing a few matches, with right-arm leg-spinner Odean Brown finishing in sixth position with 21 wickets and with fast bowler Daren Powell finishing in seventh position after missing a few matches, Jamaica's bowlers did well in the Carib Beer series, no question about that, and so too did the fielders.

Inspired by Brendan Nash they were brilliant; and definitely so in the matches at home.

Very disappointing

Apart from Simon Jackson, who represented the CCC team and scored 406 runs, the only Jamaican who finished in the top 15 with 422 runs was Nash. That means that Jamaica's batting was disappoin-ting and the fact, based on the scores, that they won so many matches so easily, so comfortably, suggests that the other teams - including Trinidad and Tobago with an 18-year-old batting at number two, a 19-year-old batting at number three, a 23-year-old batting at number four, a 20-year-old batting at number five and Denesh Ramdin batting at number six - were even worse.

In any analysis of Jamaica's performance, however, and even if, and especially so as far as batting is concerned, they are not a one-eyed man in a blind man's country, it is important to note that Jamaica played five of their seven matches in the Carib Beer Series at home and that while they drew one of the two matches away and lost the other, they won all five at home and easily at that.

They won one by five wickets with a day to spare, one by 10 wickets with a day to spare, one by eight wickets with a day to spare, one by 10 wickets with two days to spare and one, a scheduled five-day showdown, by nine wickets with two days to spare.