West Indies: Champs go for winning start (6 October 1998 )

6 October 1998

West Indies: Champs go for winning start

By Tony Becca

The 1998 Red Stripe Bowl limited-over cricket competition gets under way today with two matches - one in Jamaica and one in Guyana.

In Jamaica, it will be defending champions the Leeward Islands up against newcomers the United States of America at Kensington Park, and in Guyana, it will be last year's beaten finalists Guyana against the Windward Islands at Albion with both matches in the 50-over-a-side contest scheduled to start at 9.30.

Like last year's inaugural season of the Bowl, the teams will be dressed in coloured clothing, the ball will be white, the stumps red, the sightscreens black, and the eight teams have been divided into two zones with Guyana hosting Zone One and Jamaica Zone Two.

In Zone One, the teams are Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, the Windward Islands, and Bermuda. In Zone two, they are Jamaica, the Leeward Islands, Barbados and the USA.

Unlike last season when the teams in each zone played each other once before number one played number four and number two played number three to decide the two semi-finalists from the respective zone, this year will see the teams in each zone playing each other once with the top two moving straight into the semi-finals where the winning team in Zone A will play the runner-up in Zone Two and the winner of Zone Two the runner-up in Zone A.

The semi-finals, like the final which will bring the two winners together, will once again be played in Jamaica at Kaiser Sports Club, Discovery Bay.

Dubbed "one day you'll never forget", the competition promises to be exciting from start to finish - including, according to manager Selwyn Caesar, today's opening Zone Two match between the Leeward Islands and the USA.

Although the USA, with a number of West Indians and a few Indians and Pakistanis, boast a few former firstclass players in their squad, the consensus is that they should be easy pickings for the likes of the Leeward Islands, Jamaica and Barbados.

Caesar, however, does not share that opinion.

"Of course we are the underdogs," said Caesar yesterday, "but we are here to play cricket, and we could surprise you guys. Our batsmen should do well, and our bowlers, especially our slow bowlers, should be difficult for the opposing batsmen."

Captain Richard Staple, the former Jamaica batsman, shares Caesar's opinion. "We have some good players," said Staple, "this is limited-over cricket, and you never know what will happen on a given day."

The batsmen the USA are banking on are Staple himself, his Jamaican colleagues Garfield Wildman, Rohan Alexander and Dave Wallace, Nazam Hafiz of Guyana, Wayne Headley of Barbados and Desmond Richards of St. Kitts; and the three slow bowlers they believe can stifle the opposing batsmen are left-arm spinner Zamin Amin of Guyana, left-arm spinner Joy Zinto of India, and right-arm legspinner Nazeer Javed of Pakistan.

Parading a batting line-up which includes captain Stuart Williams, Keith Arthurton, Ridley Jacobs, Dave Joseph, Merlin Liburd, and young Sylvester Joseph, a pace attack of Curtly Ambrose, Kenneth Benjamin, Hamish Anthony and Carl Tuckett, and offspinner Anthony Lake, the Leeward Islands should have no reason to fear the USA. In fact, in their bid to win the regional title for the seventh time, they apparently fear no one.

"We have a strong team," said a confident Williams yesterday. "We are in good nick, we are accustomed to the conditions, we are going for it, and we are going to have a good time doing so."

The Leeward Islands' only concern going into today's contest is the availability of Benjamin who, up to yesterday, was being treated for "pink eye'.

Source :: The Jamaica Gleaner (https://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/)