Bridgetown, Barbados, July 24 – (www.bcacricket.org) – Jamaica stormed to their second-consecutive nine-wicket win after drubbing Canada at Kensington Oval to give themselves a good shot at the semi-finals of the WICB Caribbean Twenty20 championship.

David Bernard starred with the ball to pick up three wickets to restrict Canada to an inadequate 101, and later combined with Xavier Marshall, who smashed another sparkling fifty, to make light work of the target with seven overs to spare.

It was a good toss to win for Tamar Lambert, who unleashed his seamers on a pitch which had generous bounce and seam movement early on. The Canada top order were found woefully short in technique, often playing and missing with little or no foot movement.

Their captain, Rizwan Cheema, set a poor example with the bat as he regularly swished his bat at thin air without really watching the ball. Andre Russell troubled the top order with his pace and bounce while Bernard managed to extract swing.

Bernard wasn't afraid to pitch the ball up, and he got the first breakthrough when Hiral Patel chased a wide delivery and top edged to Odean Brown who took a fine running catch at third man. Brown's anticipation set a fine example for the rest as the Jamaicans gave a sharp account of themselves in the field, effecting athletic saves at the boundary.

Bernard then got rid of Geoff Barnett with an away swinger, before sending back the struggling Cheema, caught at deep square leg with one that came back in. Canada's struggles were emphasised by the number of dot balls, which totalled 48 by the end of the 12th over. Zubin Surkari and the Jamaican-born Tyson Gordon tried to lend some stability to the innings but the spinners didn't let them snatch the initiative.

Canada were further hampered by an injury to Surkari, who pulled a muscle while taking a quick single. The pair had added 43 for the fourth wicket before Lambert, bowling off-breaks, trapped Gordon plumb lbw with a quicker delivery. There was further embarrassment for Canada when Surkari was dismissed in comical manner, though not entirely due to a fault of his own. Surkari failed to connect a reverse sweep off Brown, but his runner Patel blundered by ambling out of the crease, before which an alert Carlton Baugh whipped off the bails. He went on to effect two more stumpings, another off Brown and one off Lambert.

The spinners varied their lengths and even managed to beat the bat on a few occasions. The batsmen tried advancing down the pitch to get a move on, but were beaten in flight, thereby keeping Baugh busy behind the stumps. There was a boundary drought for 41 balls before Tervin Bastiampillai finally managed to get one past the ropes, in the final over. That over cost 14, but it came too late for Canada as their total of 101 hardly looked intimidating enough for the Jamaicans.

Jamaica were missing their star player Chris Gayle who was down with a groin strain, but Bernard had no trouble warming the seat at the top.

Canada opened with the spinners but it was more a defensive move, to check the scoring. Marshall was harsh on anything dropped short as he swivelled and pulled the left-armer Patel, against the spin. The openers ripped Patel for 24 off a single over, with Bernard making room to scoop over extra cover before muscling a full toss over the deep square leg fence. Marshall swung the seamer Usman Bhatti over midwicket to bring up his fifty but couldn't complete the job as he mishit Bastiampillai to mid-off shortly before Jamaica sealed the game.

SCORECARD

CANADA

H Patel c Brown b Bernard     7        

GEF Barnett c wk Baugh b Bernard     8     

*Rizwan Cheema c Samuels b Bernard     6        

TG Gordon lbw b Lambert     25        

ZE Surkari st Baugh b Brown     15         

U Bhatti st Baugh b Brown     0    

TC Bastiampillai not out     19     

Usman Limbada st Baugh b Lambert     1        

+Hamza Tariq     not out     11        

Extras (b 1, lb 4, w 4)     9                                    

TOTAL (7 wks; 20 overs)     101

Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Patel, 1.4 overs), 2-20 (Barnett, 3.3), 3-27 (Rizwan Cheema, 5.3), 4-70 (Gordon, 14.1), 5-70 (Surkari, 15.1), 6-73 (Bhatti, 15.4), 7-78 (Usman Limbada, 16.5).

Did not bat H Osinde, PA Desai.                               

Bowling:  Russell 2-0-8-0, Bernard 3-0-13 -3 (1w), Hyatt 2-0-11-0, Santokie 3-0-22-0 (1w), Miller 3-0-14-0 (2w), Brown 4-0-21-2, Lambert 3-1-7-2.    

JAMAICA

VXM Marshall c Barnett b Bastiampillai     52    

DE Bernard not out     36        

MN Samuels not out     1    

Extras (lb 1, w 12)     13                    

TOTAL (1 wk; 13 overs)     102

Fall of wickets: 1-98 (Marshall, 12.2 ov).

Did not bat: DP Hyatt, WW Hinds, *TL Lambert, +CS Baugh, AD Russell, NO Miller, K Santokie, OV Brown.

Bowling: Desai 4-0-17-0 (1w), Patel 4-0-39-0 (2w), Osinde 1-0-11-0  (1w), Bhatti 2-0-19-0 (1w), Gordon 1-0-12-0 (2w), Bastiampillai 1-0-3-1.        

Toss: Jamaica.

Points: Jamaica 4, Canada 0

Player of the match: DE Bernard (Jamaica)

Umpires: CE Mack, PJ Nero

TV umpire: GE Greaves

Match referee: CC Brome

Reserve umpire: CR Duncan