Tony Becca
The three-day warm-up match between a Jamaica Select X1 and the Australian cricketers at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium was, as expected, dominated by the tourists and especially so by batsman Andrew Symonds, with his superb technique, and right-hander Stuart MacGill with his huge leg-breaks.
The Jamaicans, however, without the likes of Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Danza Hyatt, Wavell Hinds, and Brendan Nash, Jerome Taylor, Daren Powell, and Odean Brown, gave a good and creditable account of themselves in their first innings, and particularly so wicketkeeper/batsman Carlton Baugh Jnr, who stroked a confident and delightful century, and left-arm spin bowler Nikita Miller, who for 35 consecutive overs in the Australians' first-innings, enjoyed himself on a pitch that favoured spin.
Baugh apart, the batsmen, and especially so Brenton Parchment and Xavier Marshall, batted so well that the few spectators on hand were generous in their praises for them.
No doubt about it
There was no doubt about it. Their stroke play, the drives of Parchment and the cuts of Simon Jackson against pace bowlers Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson were authentic and exciting, and so, too, were a drive off right-arm leg-spinner Stuart MacGill, a pull to the mid-wicket boundary off Stuart Clark, and a drive off the pacer by Marshall.
They were so good, they looked so good, that one wondered how come their respective records, their first-class records, including the number of centuries they have scored, are not better.
The truth is that Jamaica's batsmen always seem to get a good start, to move into the 20s, sometimes into the 30s, and then get out - most times not due to the bowlers' skill but more so to apparent carelessness.
The question has been asked many times, is it carelessness, or is it lack of concentration, and, based on recent evidence, it appears that it is a lack of concentration - either that or Jamaican batsmen do not fully understand the game or are not properly coached.
A few weeks ago, in the domestic Super League, Mel-bourne Kangaroos took on St Catherine Saints at Melbourne Oval. The Saints, batting first after losing the toss, piled up 465 runs off 116.3 overs, left the Kangaroos three overs to bat to the end of the day's play. After taking his guard again in the middle of the final over, and stopping the next delivery, Damion Henry pounced on the next delivery, hooked it, and was caught on the backward square-leg boundary.
Putting up a fight
On the final day, with Melbourne losing one wicket in the morning session but putting up a fight, with Samuels batting well on 37, with one delivery to go to lunch, the Kangaroo's number one batsman, the Jamaica and West Indies batsman, swung his bat and was caught on the long-on boundary.
After the interval, with right-arm leg-spinner Gavin Wallace getting the ball to spin and to bounce awkwardly, Melbourne lost seven wickets for 38 runs and collapsed to an embarrassing 136.
On Friday, in the first innings of the match at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium, the Jamaicans, 51 without loss in the eighth over and dismissed for 297 after recovering from 117 for five after 26 overs, lost seven wickets off the last delivery of an over.
In the 15th over, Jackson edged Clarke to Ricky Ponting at slip at 83 for two; in the 18th over, Marshall going back to MacGill and edged to Ponting at 91 for three; in the 26th over, Shawn Findlay went back to MacGill and was leg before wicket 117 for five; in the 34th over, Donovan Sinclair went down the pitch to the left-arm spin of Katich and was stumped at 160 for six; in the 39th over, Miller edged Johnson to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin at 182 for seven; in the 68th over, Gavin Wallace edged MacGill to Haddin at 294 for nine; and the innings ended when Neive McNally hit at Lee and was caught by Brad Hodge.
With some of the batsmen cut down by good deliveries while playing defensively on Friday, it may not have been carelessness or a lack of concentration on that occasion.
Not how but when
In the past, however, when Jamaica and West Indies batsmen, cherished their wickets, they made sure, or tried to make sure that they did not lose their wickets to the last ball of an over, in the last over of a session or in the last over of a day's play. Following what happened at Melbourne Oval a few weeks ago, based on what happened at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium on Friday, Jamaica's batsmen, their coaches, and their captains, need to look at what is happening to them - not only at how they get out but also when they get out.
