Tony Becca

JAMAICA WILL soon be starting preparations for the regional tournaments - for the 2006 one-day tournament and for the 2007 four-day tournament, and after finishing fifth out of six in the one-day tournament on the last two occasions, after finishing last in the four-day tournament earlier this year, they must be looking forward to an improved performance in both competitions.

In order to achieve that improved performance, however, the coach has to identify the weak areas in Jamaica's cricket and work on them and, although that should not be too difficult, the selectors have to take a close look at the statistics, identify those who, despite their reputation, have not been performing, and bid them goodbye - particularly so those who are satisfied with mediocrity and are not prepared to work at improving their game.

No excuse for Jamaica

Although it is so easy to get into the West Indies team these days - so easy that players can get in after playing one first-class match and that a batsman can get in without having scored a first-class century, there can be no excuse, and there should be no excuse for Jamaica, with as many as 14 Test players around, finishing at the bottom of the heap in West Indies cricket.

A look at the statistics shows why Jamaica have been performing so poorly, and as they sit to put together Jamaica's squads for the regional tournaments, the selectors, whoever they may be, will have to take a good look at those statistics before putting pen to paper.

The statistics are very revealing. It shows that a number of those who believe they are batsmen are not really batsmen - at least not according to their figures.

Impostors

While Jamaica's fielding, and particularly so their catching, has been below par, a good look at the statistics shows that Jamaica's batsmen, most of them, are impostors.

The batting averages of some of Jamaica's leading batsmen look more like bowling averages. In fact, some of them look more like the averages of top-class bowlers.

The present Jamaica team, for example, has one batsman with an average of 40 and above, while representing Jamaica, and that one batsman is Christopher Gayle who, in 34 matches, in 65 innings, has scored 2,866 runs with eight centuries at an average of 49.41.

What is embarrassing is that the next best is Marlon Samuels with a record, for Jamaica, of 14 matches, 25 innings, and 915 runs with one century at an average of 38.12. In other words, in 25 times at bat, Samuels, considered by many to be a gifted batsman - to be the number two batsman in Jamaica, has scored only one century.

Going down the list makes pathetic reading: Wavell Hinds, the country's second most experienced player with 38 matches under his belt, has a record of 66 innings with five centuries for an average of 31.92; Donovan Pagon, who usually bats at number three, has a record of 20 matches, 32 innings, one century at an average of 33.35; David Bernard Jnr. has a record of 35 matches, 56 innings and three centuries for an average of 32.30. Then Tamar Lambert has a record of 25 matches, 43 innings, a top score of 82 and an average of 29.19, Brenton Parchment has a record of 27 matches, 45 innings, one century and an average of 22.06; Maurice Kepple has a record 11 matches, 21 innings with a top score of 65 and an average of 20.23, wicket-keeper/batsman Carlton Baugh Jnr. has a record of 23 matches, 36 innings with three centuries for an average of 34.12; and all-rounder Gareth Breese, the batsman who became an all-rounder, the country's most capped player in the present team, has a record of 52 matches, 83 innings and one century with an average of 24.98,

The other batsmen to have played for Jamaica recently, batsmen like Xavier Marshall - with a top score of 62 and an average of 27 from six matches and nine innings, Danza Hyatt - with a top score of 63 from four matches and seven innings and an average of 20.57, Shaun Findlay - with a top score of 70 not out and an average of 18.57 from four matches and nine innings, and Lorenzo Ingram, a top score of 34 and an average of 9.85 from four matches and eight innings have all played one good innings, or one nearly good innings, and nothing else.

A batsman's job is to make runs, and apart from their batting averages that look like bowling averages, when a batsman can be going to bat 25 times, like Samuels, and has scored only one century, 32 times, like Pagon, and has scored only one century, 45 times, like Parchment, and has scored only one century, and 43 times, like Lambert, and has not scored a century - something is wrong.

There are some people who look like they can bat but, in terms of scoring runs and for whatever reason, cannot bat.

It may well be nerves on the big day, it may well be a lack of fight to cope with bowling that is usually better than it is at the club level, and it may well be that they are really not as good as so many believe they are. Whatever it is, the time has come for the selectors to take a good look and to separate the batsmen from the impostors.