For the third time in as many meetings, Jamaica got the better of Trinidad and Tobago in a regional four-day fixture.
And as was the case in the corresponding round-robin fixture at the Queen’s Park Oval last season, Jamaica claimed victory on first innings.
The six points earned left the defending champions on top the standings and T&T near the bottom, fifth out of seven after two rounds.
A game ruined by three days of persistent rain ended with Trinidad and Tobago – trailing by 153 on first innings – closing the fourth and final day on an unimpressive 91 for three in their second innings after seven of the mandatory final 15 overs had been bowled.
And it was the manner of the outcome rather than the result itself that left captain Daren Ganga talking about change.
Noting after the match that his side "lacked a bit of stability in our batting and our bowling as well lacked a bit of penetration", the skipper said also: "We’ll have the West Indian players back (for the next match against the Windward Islands) and the selectors would be considering the set-up of the team. So probably there would be changes for the better."
However, neither Denesh Ramdin nor Kieron Pollard can fill the void left by new ball bowler Rayad Emrit, whose broken left arm has forced him out of contention for at least six weeks.
"It’s very devastating," Ganga said of Emrit’s loss.
"Not having Ravi Rampaul, not having Rayad Emrit, I think it’s a wide void that we need to fill We gotta look at it positively. We’ve got the Navin Stewarts, we’ve got the Atiba Allerts, guys who have been in and around Trinidad and Tobago teams and trial squads, so their opportunities are gonna come."
T&T’s bowling worries confronted Ganga from the start of play yesterday at the Oval.
Any doubts as to who would get the first innings points up for grabs were cast aside inside the first hour-and-a-half of play when Jamaica resumed on 148 for five.
Seasoned ex-West Indies player Wavell Hinds and Man-of-the-Match Dave Bernard Jr got the remaining 55 runs needed, plus 44 more in a partnership that took hope away from the hosts.
The pair approached their task positively and had captain Ganga steadily rotating his spinners at the southern end in an effort to stem the free flow of runs as well as get wickets.
After just one over, for instance, he was forced to remove Dave Mohammed after Bernard Jr took 12 runs off him.
Hinds, not at his best, was nevertheless first to 50 yesterday, when he drove Sherwin Ganga to the extra-cover boundary.
The left-hander had taken advantage of a let-off when he was only 19. Mohammed juggled but dropped a driven return chance. Hinds then thanked him by blasting a four and six over mid-off and long-on.
The six-four combination was repeated by Hinds later against Sherwin Ganga. That second blow beyond the boundary was a huge effort, hit straight and high into the Gerry Gomez Media Centre.
Hinds was one of four Jamaicans to pass 50 in the innings. But like others in this match, he didn’t turn a solid foundation into a really big score. On 52, after just over two hours at the crease, he chopped Amit Jaggernauth into captain Ganga’s hands at slip.
That was the only wicket for Jaggernauth in the innings. Mohammed did no better than one himself. Conversely, Jamaica’s leg-spin pair of Odean Brown and the impressive Gavin Wallace collected a total of nine.
Placid as the conditions were, the lack of penetration of T&T’s two frontline bowlers over the last five sessions was not a good sign.
"We’ve got two attacking bowlers (in) Amit Jaggernauth and Dave Mohammed and then we’ve got a defensive off-spinner in Sherwin Ganga. I think guys are getting their roles mixed up a bit," Ganga reckoned.
"We just need to work out when we use guys and how we use them. They (Jaggernauth and Mohammed) are not accustomed to having another spin bowler in the team They are accustomed bowling the bulk of the overs. I don’t think they still have it right in terms of their heads, their roles."
Richard Kelly, however, does not seem to be any under any illusions about what’s required of him.
Despite not being able to add to his three wickets from Sunday, Kelly shouldered his responsibilities as the main faster bowler admirably, although it was the stand-in gentle seamer Lendl Simmons who got T&T’s only other success yesterday.
After Bernard Jr (75, 201 minutes, seven fours) had added a further 89 for the seventh wicket with wicketkeeper Keith Hibbert (60 not out, 121 minutes, three fours, two sixes), he too surrendered hopes of a century by driving Simmons-in his first over of the day-to the right of Daren Ganga at cover. The T&T skipper dived to his left to come up with a good two-handed catch.
Bernard Jr had also earlier benefited from a leg-side stumping chance to wicketkeeper Gibran Mohammed off Jaggernauth. Ironically, the two resulting byes gave Jamaica the first innings victory.
It was in microcosm the story of this match.
