Tony Becca
JAMAICA'S PERFORMANCE in the regional Carib Beer cricket series was disappointing - so much so that despite the fact there is one round to go, the double winners of the previous season are firmly cemented at the bottom of the standing after completing their schedule of matches on 12 points.
After starting the tournament with two first innings points, one against the Leeward Islands and one against the Windward Islands, Jamaica lost their remaining three matches.
They lost one by 282 runs to Trinidad and Tobago, one by 10 wickets to Barbados, one by 51 runs to Guyana, and regardless of the results of the two matches to come this weekend - one between Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago and one between Guyana and the Windward Islands - they will remain in the cellar position.
In other words Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and the Windward Islands are so far ahead of Jamaica that even if one of them lose, they will remain in front of Jamaica and the Leeward Islands who, after losing to Barbados on Monday, finished their campaign on 13 points.
WORSE PERFORMANCE
That is still one more than Jamaica, which suffered their worse performance in the tournament since 1991 when they finished one from the bottom.
For a team with 12 Test players on call, the question on everyone lips around the region is what happened to Jamaica why they performed so badly, why a team with Test players like batsmen Xavier Marshall, Marlon Samuels and Wavell Hinds, plus Donovan Pagon and Chris Gayle who both played in only the final match, all-rounders David Bernard Jnr. and Gareth Breese, wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh Jnr., and fast bowlers Daren Powell, Jerome Taylor and Jermaine Lawson, a team in which Dwight Washington, also a Test player, could not find a place for even one match, played so poorly?
DROPPED ONE BOWLER
Was it that Jamaica, a team that was so strong that they dropped one bowler, Andrew Richardson, despite the fact that he had taken the second most wickets, that he boasted the second best average, and that his five for 32 against the Leeward Islands represented the best return by any of Jamaica's bowlers in an innings, were simply not good enough?
No, that could not have been the case, not remembering that it was the same set of players, playing against the same players, that won both the Cup and the Challenge Shield easily last year.
Was it that the players, and particularly the batsmen, believed they were too good?
Yes, that could have been the case, especially remembering - despite the situation of the match - the reckless and careless strokes that led to the dismissal of so many of their batsmen.
This they did in opposite fashion to the Trinidadians at the Three W's Oval in Port-of-Spain and the Guyanese at Chedwin Park, who refused to temper their stroke play on slow pitches in an effort to bat for as long as possible.
Was it the captaincy?
Yes, it could have been - especially remembering that last season Jamaica won their first five matches when Tamar Lambert was the captain and won only two of the second five when Hinds took over; that Jamaica won first innings points from their first two matches this season when Lambert was the captain, and that they lost all three when Hinds took over.
Was it that the players, the Test players, did not give of their best?
Yes, it could have been - and especially so when one remembers that over the years, in recent times, Jamaica have always done better when the Test players are absent than when they are present.
Like Barbados, who won the double in 2004, finished last in 2005 and are apparently on their way to winning the Cup this time, Jamaica could bounce back and win again next time.
The truth, however, is that despite the fact so many of their batsmen are technically deficient and are too arrogant Jamaica, based on the players at their disposal, should not have finished last. Regardless of who was the captain, they should have played much better than they did.
EXCUSES
Maybe the fault lies with the management. Maybe they also believe that the players are better than they are, maybe instead of motivating them, they too found excuses, excuses like bad pitches and poor umpiring, and may be the time has come for a change.
It is said, however, that if you frown on the gods, the gods will frown on you, and Jamaica, with all their Test players, may have lost, may have played so badly that they finished last, for the simple reason that after their last pair, thanks to the gods, had squeezed them through to first innings lead in the opening match, after their last pair, thanks to the gods, had defied the odds, had added 25 runs and had taken them to within four runs of winning the match, they chickened out, they walked off the field, and in doing so, they frowned on the gods.
