KINGSTON, Jamaica, (CMC) - Defending double-crown champions Barbados recorded their third successive victory with a hard-fought, come-from-behind, 40-run win over Jamaica on the fourth day in their third round match of the Carib Beer 2004 Cricket Series at Sabina Park yesterday.
Set 245 to win, Jamaica, who resumed the final day on 54 for two, were dismissed for 204, three-quarters of an hour after tea.
Barbados, who conceded a narrow seven-run first innings lead, had to claw their way back into the match after contrasting half-centuries from Keith Hibbert and Maurice Kepple to put Jamaica on course.
Once a seventh-wicket partnership of 72 was ended in the first over after tea, Barbados pressed home the advantage to maintain their 100 per cent winning record and move to a maximum 24 points.
Three wickets each to fast bowlers Tino Best and Ryan Nurse, as well as left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn, along with seven dismissals for wicketkeeper Courtney Browne spurred Barbados to their victory.
Jamaica slipped to 106 for six within the first 40 minutes before lunch before Kepple and Hibbert came together to engineer a recovery.
Hibbert, batting at No. 8 after opening in the first innings, counter-attacked in a run-a-ball 54 that included eight fours and a six, while the defiant Kepple, who resumed on 10, tenaciously fought for close to six hours in making a dogged 65.
Jamaica’s hopes, however, faded when Hibbert edged a catch to wicketkeeper Browne off Best in the first over after tea.
It was one of seven dismissals in the innings and one of ten in the match for the Barbados captain who equalled the record for the most dismissals in a match by a ’keeper that was also attained by his Jamaican counterpart Hibbert the previous day.
Kepple’s resistance ended soon after when he was lbw to Benn after batting 350 minutes and facing 208 balls in an innings studded with excellence powers of concentration.
Man-of-the-match Best finished with three for 53 to push his tally of wickets for the season to 23, while Benn, who was belatedly brought into the attack, took three for 21.
Nurse, who sent down a marathon 16-over spell that was broken only by lunch, made the early inroads and ended with three for 48.
Barbados, who beat Guyana and the Windward Islands in the first two matches, next face West Indies-B at the Three Ws Oval at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies, while Jamaica, who took three points into the match, play Kenya at the Queen’s Park Stadium in St George’s.
BARBADOS 1st innings 198 (R. Hinds 56; R. Cunningham 4-49)
JAMAICA 1st innings 205 (D. Bernard 81; T. Best 5-44)
BARBADOS 2nd innings 251 (M. Nurse 77; A. Richardson 4-36)
JAMAICA 2nd innings (o/n 39 for one)
B. Parchment c Mayers b R. Nurse 36
L. Ingram c wkpr Browne b Best 0
M. Kepple lbw b Benn 65
D. Bernard c wkpr Browne b R. Nurse 0
T. Lambert c wkpr Browne b Collins 2
M. Ventura c wkpr Browne b Best 9
*G. Breese c wkpr Browne b R. Nurse 7
+K. Hibbert c wkpr Browne b Best 51
J. Taylor st Browne b Benn 8
A. Richardson c and b Benn 4
R. Cunningham not out 1
Extras: (lb-6, w-1, nb-14) 21
Total: (all out) 204
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-74, 3-74, 4-77, 5-99, 6-106, 7-178, 8-194, 9-199.
Bowling: Collins 23-9-51-1 (nb-10), Best 19-7-53-3 (nb-1), R. Nurse 18-7-48-3(w-1), Benn 11.5-2-21-3, Hinds 2-0-5-0 (nb-2), Graham 2-0-8-0 (nb-1), Mayers2-0-12-0.