Left: Leewards coach John Archibald. Right: Jamaica skipper Tamar Lambert

Jamaica and the Leeward Islands, fresh from sixth-round victories over the Windward Islands and the Combined Colleges and Campuses (CCC), arrived in the island full of expectations to win their West Indies Cricket Board Four-Day Championship clash at Sabina Park, starting tomorrow.

The match-up will see leaders Jamaica, with 60 points, going up against the Leeward Islands, who are fifth in the seven-team championship on 31 points. Jamaica look forward to extending their lead ahead of second-placed Barbados (52), who will travel to Guaracara Park to face third-placed Trinidad and Tobago (39).

Jamaica's match haul

Jamaica, behind an 11-wicket match-haul from leg-spinner Odean Brown, secured an innings and 13-run win over the Windwards last Sunday.

"In the first round, the Leewards totally dominated us for the first two days after getting off to a flying start, but we really had to crawl back into the fold to win the match outright," said Jamaica's captain, Tamar Lambert.

"This time around, we don't want to really give them a head start and once we do (not), there is no doubt we will come out on top," he added.

The Leewards, who defeated CCC by 111 runs in their last outing, arrived on Tuesday without their captain and leading run-getter, Runako Morton, and top pacer Anthony Martin. Both were dropped from the squad for disciplinary reasons.

However, John Archibald, their coach, is optimistic about a good showing, noting that it could be a perfect opportunity for other players in the squad to step up.

"There was a little incident during the last game we played so we had to take some disciplinary action against Morton and Martin. Naturally, if your leading batsman and leading bowler go it is going to create some sort of situation. But at the end of the day it is all about somebody else getting an opportunity and they will have to step up," said Archibald.

"The last time we played Jamaica we led on first innings and they came from behind and beat us. But since then, our confidence has been restored and as such, it's going to be a much more competitive game.

"We have what it takes, it's just a matter of the players going out there and executing according to matches that we have played so far and the practices we have had. We are pretty confident that we can compete well, and, if not, beat Jamaica," he declared.

Meanwhile, Jamaica's head coach, Junior Bennett, said he hoped his players would continue to show improvements and not get carried away, as the tournament was far from over.

"We have to keep the momentum going. We have done extremely well in the first round, gathering 60 points, so once we continue to improve and get more points in the second round than we did in the first round, we will definitely defend our title."

Bennett added: "We need to go on and get over 100 points as we believe somewhere about 110 points or so can make us champions."