At press time Monday night, a doctor told the Observer he had not yet decided whether to keep the 26-year-old Garrick in hospital overnight.

The doctor declined to speak further on Garrick's condition. But a police spokesman at the Ewarton police station said the batsman suffered cuts to the forehead and mouth -- apparently the result of his head hitting the windscreen.

Lorenzo Ingram, 20, a member of the West Indies Under-19 team to the World Youth Cup in South Africa, early this year, escaped unhurt, the police said last night.

The two residents of northern Jamaica -- Garrick represents St Ann and Ingram, Trelawny, in domestic cricket -- were on their way home after several days of practice sessions at the Melbourne Cricket Club in Kingston as part of Jamaica's preparations for the start of the regional first class season in late January. Training has broken for the New Year holiday and is set to resume tomorrow with the start of a four-day preparation game at Melbourne.

Police said the car driven by Garrick was extensively damaged when it collided with a Jamaica Public Service (JPS) truck while negotiating the steep and torturously narrow and winding Mount Rosser main road.

The Observer learnt that the teenaged batsman, Xavier Marshall, who is Garrick's team-mate at St Ann, was originally scheduled to travel with Garrick. He inadvertently missed his ride and ended up using public transportation to get home.

Garrick, one of Jamaica's leading performers with the bat in recent years, played one Test for the West Indies against South Africa at Sabina Park in 2001 making 0 and 28. At the first class level he has scored 2 732 runs in 49 first class games with a highest score of 200 not out and six centuries.