Jamaica look to take the lead

CASTRIES, St Lucia (CMC):

Title-holders Jamaica and championship leaders Windward Islands will clash in the feature game when the fourth round of the TCL Group West Indies Under-19 Challenge bowls off here today.

Both sides are coming off victories which pushed them to 21 points each in the third round which ended here Saturday.

The Windwards pulled off a seven-wicket win over Guyana at the Gros Islet playing field while Jamaica secured a five-wicket win over the Leeward Islands within the last hour at the Beausejour Stadium.

"I am expecting it to be what it is - a top of the table clash," Jamaican coach Robert Samuels told CMC Sports.

"The Windwards will be playing at home and they have been playing some good cricket. We had a hiccup at the start but right now we are playing some good cricket.

"The tournament has been hectic but we will have a day's rest and will be putting our best foot forward against the Windwards."

He added: "If we do our best it should be good enough. I am expecting a very good game. We have a few niggling injuries in the camp, but nothing major. We should have a full squad to choose from."

Opponents cautioned

Windwards manager Shawn Edwards, meanwhile, cautioned opponents not to underestimate the talent that resided in his team.

"There is a misconception that the Windwards are failures. Our players are comparable to others in the tournament but our preparation has always let us down in the past," Edwards noted.

"The guys did some work in their individual islands and we had a one-week camp before the start of the tournament and that has made a big difference for us."

"We are very confident going into game four. Jamaica has been one of the teams we have had success against in recent times. They beat us last year at home but we had the better of them in 2008 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.

"It's been a mixed bag. Given the kind of cricket we have played in this campaign I am confident we have what it takes to overcome them at Beausejour."

Barbados has stayed within striking distance of the leaders with 18 points at the end of round three.

Coach Dexter Coppin is, however, banking on three full days of cricket at the Dennery Cricket Ground to secure a possible outright win over Guyana who have remained on 15 points after their defeat by the Windwards.

Comfortable

"I feel very comfortable how the team has been playing and we are looking for maximum points against Guyana," said Toppin.

"The boys are in good spirits and have been playing some good cricket. We have had tough luck with the weather. We had a chance to force an outright win over the Leewards but the rain set us back and with a small lead against the Trinidadians, the rain again set us back at Dennery a bit," he lamented.

The Barbadian coach said a win would be crucial to his team's chances of capturing the TCL title.

"We have to play to look for a win to be in with a chance. We have to win to be in it and we must play positive cricket in our remaining two games," he asserted.

Guyana on the other hand need to re-energise their campaign after being top of the standings after the two first rounds.

"We will have stronger challenges in our final two matches as the teams we will be coming up against have been traditionally strong teams in this competition," Guyana's manager Alvin Johnson pointed out.

In the third match of the round, the Leewards who are rooted at the bottom of the table with three points and will take on Trinidad and Tobago who have 12 points.