Jamaica trounce T&T to take four day title

Jamaica duly completed a dominant innings and 72 runs hammering of Trinidad & Tobago in St. Andrew to claim their third consecutive four day championship title. Resuming at 66 for 4, T&T were in strife as early as the first over on the third day when Sherwin Ganga flashed at Andrew Richardson's away-swinger. Amit Jaggernauth and Daron Cruickshank resisted for a while, before a terrible mix-up led to the former's demise. After that, the spinning duo of Bevon Brown and Odean Brown got into the act, sharing the last four wickets, to hasten the end. The win took Jamaica to 60 points, three clear of Barbados who finished their engagements last week after handing Jamaica their only loss of the season.

Tamar Lambert, the victorious captain was pleased with his side's achievement. "A third straight title says a lot for Jamaica and our cricket. We played consistently over the past three years and that is the reason why we have won. We have worked hard work in practice sessions and tried to execute on match day," Lambert said. T&T finished their roller-coaster campaign with an equal number of wins, draws and defeats in their six games that put them on the fourth spot.

Lionel Baker eased to his second five-wicket haul to finish with 13 wickets for the match, as Leewards Islands marched to an easy 10-wicket victory against Combined Campuses and Colleges in St Lucia. Resuming play at 192 for 6, CCC could manage only eight more runs as Baker ran through the lower order to set up the early finish. In addition to getting tail-enders Ryan Austin and Kavesh Kantasingh to edge behind, he also breached the defences of Romel Currency whose 80 stood out in a sorry batting card. Chasing 39 runs for the win, Kieran Powell brought up the finish quickly with a chirpy, unbeaten 32. With the win, Leewards moved to the season third on the points table with 34 points, while CCC finished with 24.

It was shaping into a scrap for the first-innings lead in St George's, as a captain's knock of 193 from Devon Smith took Windward Islands to 371 for 7 at stumps on day three, still 81 runs short of Guyana's effort. After the early loss of night-watchman Nelson Pascal, Windwards prospered through two substantial associations initiated by Smith - with Liam Sebastien for the fourth wicket and with Rawl Lewis for the sixth. Sebastien had contributed 45 to the partnership worth 96 when Veerasammy Permaul got him to prod at one and offer a chance to silly mid-off. Craig Emanuel fell early in the second session, run out while attempting an impossible single before Lewis joined Smith in an exciting stand. Runs came at a fast clip, as Lewis raised 56 with seven fours and a six, before he was snared by Assad Fudadin. Smith remained a symbol of calmness at the other end, mixing caution with aggression to bring up the highest score of the season. He struck 25 fours in 306 balls, displaying a wide range of strokes, before succumbing to the last ball of the day, nicking a rising delivery from Fudadin, to take a bit of the shine off from a very good day's effort.