KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Jamaica took yet another giant step towards an unprecedented fifth successive first class title when they brushed aside a fragile Guyana by 133 runs with a day to spare, in their Regional Four-Day semi-final here yesterday.
Led by out-of-favour West Indies left-arm spinner Nikita Miller, Jamaica bundled out Guyana for a meagre 126, after they had been set 260 to win the contest at Sabina Park.
Miller, who has not played for West Indies since the World Cup last year March, claimed four for 28 to finish with match figures of seven for 44.
Assad Fudadin top-scored with 24, Narsingh Deonarine got 23 and Derwin Christian, an unbeaten 20, but Guyana had no answer to the rampant Jamaicans who marched to their seventh straight win in the competition.
They will now meet Barbados in the final next weekend after the Barbadians crushed Trinidad and Tobago by 227 runs in Port of Spain, also inside three days Sunday.
Resuming the day on 99 for three, Jamaica batted poorly and added only 90 runs before they were dismissed after lunch.
Opener Xavier Marshall, unbeaten on 54 overnight, added just five before being the first to fall, caught behind off off-spinner Deonarine.
It was left up to captain Tamar Lambert again to marshall the middle and lower order, and he stroked 37 from 138 balls with three fours, before being eighth out.
He put on 35 for the fifth wicket with David Bernard Jr who scored 16.
In their turn at the crease, Guyana offered precious little resistance and quickly plunged to 30 for three.
Trevon Griffith (7) was brilliantly taken by Jermaine Blackwood running around from point off left-arm seamer Sheldon Cotterell before pacer Andrew Richardson (2-21) struck twice to remove Leon Johnson (6) and opener Chanderpaul Hemraj (11).
Fudadin hit two fours in his 92-ball innings while Deonarine failed to find the boundary in 56 balls, as they fought bravely in a fourth-wicket stand of 38.
Once Deonarine was lbw to leg-spinner Odean Brown (3-42), the floodgates opened again and Guyana lost their last seven wickets for 58 runs.
Captain Shiv Chanderpaul, the veteran West Indies left-hander, faced just 18 balls before becoming the first of Miller’s four wickets, lbw for four.
