By Tony Becca, Senior Sport EditorALPART:
THE Busta Series cricket match between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago at Alpart comes to an end today, and if the rain stays away as it has done on the previous three days, when it is over, Jamaica should be the winners and the new Busta Cup champions.
At stumps on the third day yesterday, the scoreboard read, Trinidad and Tobago 132 and 281 for eight, Jamaica 298 for nine, and with Trinidad and Tobago leading by 115 with only two wickets in hand, with a minimum of 90 overs to come, the odds are heavily in favour of victory for Jamaica.
The game of cricket, however, is one of surprises, so far, this match has not produced even one surprise, and who to tell, there could be one to come.
Trinidad and Tobago, it must be remembered, however, seldom ever surrender, in Marlon Black, they possess a good fast bowler, in right-arm legspinner Dinanath Ramnarine and offspinner Mukesh Persad they possess two dangerous spin bowlers, and if they manage a few more runs on a pitch that a number of the batsmen on both sides do not trust because of a few deliveries that have popped off a length and a few that have kept low, it could be a close and exciting finish.
Chances are, however, there will be no surprise - even though captain Richard Smith of Trinidad and Tobago said yesterday that another 30 or 40 runs could make it quite interesting and although there could be a few hiccups along the way.
The reason why there should be no surprise is because of Jamaica's lovely performance yesterday when, instead of retreating in the face of some good batting by Trinidad and Tobago who were once well positioned for a grand recovery, they stood their ground and blessed with a slice of luck, picked up seven wickets for 147 runs.
Fortune, it is said, favours the brave, and when things appeared to be getting out of hand on a day of tough, tight and interesting cricket, a day marked by some splendid bowling and some lovely batting, Jamaica were rewarded for not backing off.
Resuming on 45 for one and still trailing by 121, Trinidad and Tobago batted through the morning session and with Darren Ganga, the batsman who had promised his captain before the start of the day's play that he would bat until at least the second new ball, stroking the ball nicely, with Dwayne Bravo fighting well, were on 134 for one and looking good after a partnership of 103.
Ganga, the 23-year old West Indies opening batsman who played a shot of class when he eased forward, then went back and drove pacer Jermaine Lawson to the cover boundary, looked more than capable of batting even longer than that when suddenly he was gone.
In the first innings, Ganga fell when he attempted to leave the ball alone and was bowled off the bat as the ball bounced unusually high. Yesterday, in an even more freakish dismissal, he swept at offspinner Gareth Breese and the ball, coming out of the middle of the bat, hit Leon Garrick, fielding at forward short-leg, on the inside of his right ankle and lobbed to the bowler on the offside of the pitch.
Garrick left the field immediately for treatment to his ankle but returned later on.
That was 134 for two, and after that, Jamaica picked up wickets at regular intervals with the most important ones, the ones that pushed Jamaica into a winning position, coming when Lincoln Roberts, going back and attempting to square-drive left-arm spinner Ryan Cunningham, edged a catch to wicketkeeper Keith Hibbert at 160 for three, when Bravo clipped Lawson straight to Garrick by the right of the square-leg umpire to make it 119 for four, when Smith drove Lawson straight to Cunningham at wide mid-off to make it 202 for five, and when Keno Mason drove Breese to Laurie Williams in the covers to make it 230 for six.
On a day when the impressive performances came from Darren Powell, who bowled fast and well, Breese, who varied his length and pace cleverly, Ryan Cunningham, who was tight while picking up two wickets for 28 runs off 20 overs, and Ganga and Bravo, who batted brilliantly, the star was the 18-year-old Bravo.
Playing in only his third regional match, Bravo, who scored 64 and 33 against Guyana in his second, not only rose to the occasion and in doing so demonstrated a wonderful temperament, but he also played some strokes of authority - a few of them suggesting a special class.
One was a front-foot drive through extra-cover when medium-pacer Williams attempted to fool him with a slower delivery, and another was when he went onto the back foot and pulled a short delivery from Williams for six over the wide long-on boundary.
SCOREBOARD
Trinidad & Tobago 1st innings 132
(R.Smith 64; L.Williams 4-19)
Jamaica 1st innings 298
(G.Breese 83; M.Black 4-55)
Trinidad & Tobago 2nd innings
(overnight 45 for 1):
D.Ganga c&b Breese 73
I.Jan lbw Williams 5
M.Persad not out 25
D.Bravo c Garrick b Lawson 71
L.Roberts c wkp Hibbert b Cunningham 11
R.Smith c Cunningham b Lawson 17
L.Simmons c (sub) R.Powell b Breese 36
+K.Mason c Williams b Breese 16
R.Rampaul c wkp Hibbert b Cunningham 6
M.Black not out 9
Extras (6b, 6lb, nb1) 13
TOTAL (for 8 wickets) 282
Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-134, 3-160, 4-191, 5-202, 6-230, 7-241, 8-265.
Bowling: Williams 19-2-70-1; Powell 20-4-58-0; Hinds 1-0-1-0; Gayle 10-6-18-0; Lawson 15-6-27-2; Breese 23-3-69-3; Cunningham 19-5-27-2.
Toss: Jamaica
Umpires: Dalton Holder, Mervin Noble.
