Jamaica playing for spot in final

Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer

THE semi-finals of the TCL Group/West Indies Under-19 one-day competition will be played today with hosts Jamaica facing defending champions Trinidad & Tobago at Chedwin Park and Guyana up against Barbados at Kensington Park.

Based on what happened in the preliminary round fans can expect top class action, although Jamaica and Barbados are the favourites to advance to tomorrow's final at Melbourne Oval.

Hosts Jamaica will be looking to put behind them their 11-run loss to Barbados on Thursday and but according to coach Junior Bennett, he is concerned about the number of batsmen losing their wickets by the run out route. Five Jamaican batsmen were dismissed in that fashion in the Barbados match.

Xavier Marshall will lead Jamaica's hopes for victory and a place in the final. However, Marshall, who represented West Indies in the Under-19 World Cup, needs to rediscover his form against Leewards in the opening match, when scoring 101 off 99 balls.

Jamaica's middle order is blessed with talent but apart from the opening match against the Leedwards, not much have happened since. Yanick Elliott, Damion Ebanks, Ziggy Levy, captain Jamie Trenchfield and Wayne Morgan are capable batsmen, but they are yet to score heavily.

Although the team does not have an express bowler, it should benefit from the all-round ability of its players. Denva Passley and Craigian Malcolm will share the new ball with support from spinners Alton Beckford, Dennis Bulli, Levy and Elliott.

BOWLING

Trinidad & Tobago will be banking on William Perkins, who scored 93 against Rest of Americas, Manoj Sirju, Jason Mohammed and Samuel Felix for runs, while Rishaad Harris, Keegan Roy, Mario Belcon, Magnum Nanan and Mohammed will lead the bowling.

In the other match-up, Barbados' top batsmen Renaldo Parris, Orman Kellman, Tariq Hoyte and Kevin Stoute, while Barrington Yearwood and Ruel Brathwaite are considered as the two fastest bowlers in the competition.

Guyana will be hoping Zaheer Mohammed, Yogeshwar Lall, Leon Johnson and Gajanand Singh come good with the bat, likewhise Royce Evans, Singh and Zanal Khan with the ball.

Jamaica (from) - Jamie Trenchfield, Xavier Marshall, Yannick Elliot, Damian Ebanks, Zeniffe Fowler, Albert Gopie, Wayne Morgan, Ziggy Levy, Jeffrey Scott, Alton Beckford, Dennis Bulli, Craigian Malcolm, Denva Passley and Roy Williams.

T&T (from) - William Perkins, Petrock Nicholas, Kavesh Kantasingh, Aaron Ragoonath, Mario Belcon, Samuel Felix, Keegan Roy, Rishaad Harris, Justin Guillen Manoj Sirju, Jason Mohammed, Rishi Bachan, Anderson Beharry, Ansil Bhagan and Magnum Nanan.

Barbados (from) - Barrington Yearwood, Javon Searles, Nicholas Squires, Nicholas Stanford, Renaldo Parris, Tariq Hoyte, Nicolai Parris, Daley Hurley, Ruel Brathwaite, Cyprian Payne, Orman Kellman, Steve Pinder, Kevin Stoute and Neval Grazette.

Guyana (from) - Yogeshwar Lall, Zamal Khan, Zaheer Mohamed, Devendra Bishoo, Leon Johnson, Tyrell Tull, Yoodhanlall Sukhlall, Gajanand Singh, Anthony D'Andrade, Krishna Deosaran, Abdel Fudadin, Royce Evans, Zaheer Saffie and Jeremy Gordon.