THE dismissal of Chadwick Walton in the final over yesterday has given Jamaica a slender advantage over Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) in their seventh and final preliminary round match in the Regional 4-Day Championship at the 3Ws Oval.
In a match which will decide the final semi-final spot, CCC go into today’s last day needing 82 runs for victory with five second innings wickets in hand. Jamaica began the day on 79 for two in their second innings and were dismissed for 215.
Set a victory target of 237 runs, CCC closed the penultimate day on 155 for five.
Opener Shacaya Thomas (15) and coach/player Floyd Reifer (2) were the early victims of fast bowler Jerome Taylor. Walton and Kyle Corbin posted 37 for the third wicket before Corbin was leg-before wicket to Nikita Miller for 31.
But the wickets of Walton and Raymon Reifer in the final half-hour swung the pendulum Jamaica’s way after the pair had compiled 67 for the fourth wicket.
First, Raymon Reifer swung leg-spinner Damion Jacobs to be caught in the deep for 30 and inexplicably from the second ball of the final over Walton came down the wicket to hit occasional slow bowler John Campbell out of the ground and gave Taylor his second catch.
Earlier, Jamaica were spun out by leg-spinner Akeem Dewar, who took four for 74.
Marlon Samuels was first to go caught down the leg-side by wicket-keeper Walton for 11 off Raymon Reifer. Andre McCarthy (4) and captain Tamar Lambert (0) were both caught close to the wicket off Dewar’s bouncing leg-breaks as the innings reached the cross-roads at 94 for five.
Overnight batsman Jermaine Blackwood (48) and Carlton Baugh (78) posted a sixth wicket partnership of 80 before the former, after batting responsibly for 165 balls and striking three fours, became Dewar’s third wicket.
