by HAYDN GILL at 3Ws Oval IN A TOURNAMENT where victories have been few and far between, Barbados' ten-wicket win over Jamaica yesterday will go a long way towards winning the Carib Cup. They don't quite have the look of champions yet, but they are getting there and the victory pushed them top of the standings. Yesterday, the Bajans wasted no time in completing a win that was obvious at the end of the third day. It took them 54 minutes to perform the final rites, polishing off Jamaica's last two wickets for nine runs and achieving a straightforward target of 30 in no time with little bother. "We have been playing really good team cricket," Barbados captain Ryan Hinds said after the match. "The bowlers set up the game nicely for us on the first day with some early wickets, and then we batted well as a team." This was only the second outright result in eight matches in the competition and the victory pushed Barbados to 24 points, six more than Trinidad and Tobago, the pre-series leaders who were not in action this weekend. Barbados have two more matches against the Leeward Islands in St Thomas from January 27 to 30, and against Trinidad and Tobago from February 2 to 5 at the Carlton Club in what could be a title-decider. "This season, I think we have a really balanced side, and we are batting and bowling well, so things have been going well so far," Hinds said. "It's still early days yet in this competition. We need to continue playing good cricket and, hopefully, we can go on and win the Cup." After Jamaica resumed their second innings of 310 for eight following a first innings deficit of 290, Fidel Edwards won a lbw decision against Nikita Miller and Ian Bradshaw had Jerome Taylor caught at extra-cover. It was Edwards' fourth wicket of the innings and seventh of the match and he won adjudicator Joseph Harris' vote for the Man-Of-The-Match. Barbados raced to their target in only 3.4 overs with Patrick Browne, opening the batting because Wayne Blackman spent a period off the field with an injured hand, stroked five fours in his 21 off only 12 balls. With a win and first innings points in two other matches, Barbados are well set, but the captain still has a few areas of concern. "We've been dropping too many catches," Hinds said. "The coach has been working really hard with us. We've been having some two-and-a-half hour sessions with fielding and hopefully we can get things right for the Leewards game and the Trinidad game." SCOREBOARD: JAMAICA 1st Innings 129 BARBADOS 1st Innings 419 JAMAICA 2nd Innings (overnight 310-8) X. Marshall lbw b Nurse 22 B. Parchment c wk Browne b Edwards 6 S. Findlay c wk Browne b Edwards 0 M. Samuels c and b Smith 36 *W. Hinds c Bradshaw b Austin 82 T. Lambert lbw b Edwards 54 +C. Baugh c Hinds b Bradshaw 75 G. Breese c Reifer b Bradshaw 0 N. Miller lbw b Edwards 12 J. Taylor c Holder b Bradshaw 9 A. Richardson not out 5 Extras (b5, lb5, w2, nb6) 18 TOTAL (all out - 98 overs) 319 Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Parchment), 2-20 (Findlay), 3-64 (Marshall), 4-68 (Samuels), 5-153 (Lambert), 6-270 (Baugh), 7-270 (Breese), 8-303 (Hinds), 9-311 (Miller), 10-319 (Taylor). Bowling: Edwards 18-3-75-4 (w2, nb2), Bradshaw 24-5-82-3, Nurse 16-5-55-1, Smith 12-4-31-1 (nb1), Austin 19-8-33-1 (nb2), Hinds 9-2-33-0 (nb1). BARBADOS 2nd Innings D. Richards not out 9 +P. Browne not out 21 TOTAL (no wkt - 3.4 overs) 30 Bowling: Taylor 2-0-19-0, Breese 1.4-0-11-0. Result: Barbados won by ten wickets at 10:54 a.m. on the final day. Points: Barbados 12, Jamaica 0. Man-Of-The-Match: Fidel Edwards. Adjudicator: Joseph Harris. Umpires: Vincent Bullen (Barbados), Vincent Weekes (Nevis). Stand-by: Tunley Franklyn (Barbados). Match referee: Hartley Reid.
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