Keisha Hill, Staff Reporter

JAMAICA's senior cricket team coach, Junior Bennett, is confident they will return to winning ways following their 17-run defeat to Barbados in their fifth-round Carib Beer match that ended at Kensington Oval on Monday.

Bennett told The Gleaner in an interview following the team's return at the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday that despite the loss, it was important for the team to regroup and focus on claiming the championship at home.

Quality cricket

"The team is prepared and we are looking forward to a good game," Bennett said. "We intend to play high-quality cricket and therefore, we expect a positive result in order to win the Carib Beer Cup."

An outright win for Jamaica would guarantee them the title and make the country hosts of the Challenge Finals, scheduled to take place from April 24-28.

The Jamaicans currently lead the tables on 46 points, followed by Barbados on 42 and Trinidad and Tobago on 31.

Captain Christopher Gayle is confident the the team will put the Barbados defeat behind them and win the championship.

"This is a very important game for us although we are still leading in the standings," said Gayle. "It would be very good for us to seal the championship at home. The team is ready as we're prepared to represent our country."

Gayle further stated that the Windwards were a very good team and would provide a good challenge.

Gayle stated that he was not pleased with the standard of umpiring in regional matches, but indicated that these occurrences do happen in cricket.

"We have been playing good cricket. Even though we might want to blame the umpires for our recent performance, we did not apply ourselves in the second innings and did not get the runs we needed," he stated.

The Windward Islands also arrived in the island yesterday for the sixth-round four-day contest at Alpart Sport Complex in St. Elizabeth from Friday through to Monday.