Jamaican captain Tamar Lambert starred with both bat and ball to rally his team to a 12-run win over the Daren Ganga All Star XI in the opening match of the Twenty20 for 50 Cricket Festival at the Queen's Park Oval in St Clair yesterday. The All Stars had looked on course for a comfortable victory at one stage, though Lambert's disciplined spell of 4-0-11-2 during the middle overs stalled their chase dead in the water to set up an unlikely turn around. After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Jamaicans quickly lost openers Xavier Marshall (2), caught behind off Mervyn Dillon, and Nkrumah Bonner (10), bowled by Sulieman Benn, to fall to a vulnerable 25 for two. However, Lambert and Andre McCarthy added 45 for the third wicket in quick time to get the innings going. Lambert kept the scoreboard ticking, pulling, driving and scooping his way to a quick fire 36 off 25 balls. Looking set for a big score, his innings came to an unfortunate end when he was run out while backing up as a McCarthy straight drive ricocheted off Ryan Hinds on to the non-striker's stumps. The boundaries dried up following his dismissal and a few runs later McCarthy departed for 26, bowled by Sherwin Ganga attempting a slog sweep with the score on 80.
After spending some time getting his eye in, David Bernard launched Ganga for two consecutive straight sixes in the 16th over though Ganga struck back a few balls later by bowling Horace Miller (4) at 105 for five. Attempting another maximum, Bernard became South African Justin Kemp's first victim in the next over with Kevin Stoute covering some impressive ground to take a running catch at long off. Jamie Merchant kept the momentum going with boundaries off Kemp, Dillon and Stoute before being bowled playing across the line to the latter for a useful 16. Jamaica eventually finished on 135 for seven in their 20 overs with Benn being the most economical with figures of 4-0-17-1. Devon Smith got the All Stars off to a confident start, greeting Nikita Miller with an on drive for six over long on in the first over and later cutting and driving his replacement Merchant for three fours in the third, which went for 15 runs. Taking up most of the strike, he scored the team's first 15 runs as Bosman looked on from the non-strikers end. The South African got into the act in the fourth over, cover driving Andrew Richardson to the fence and then flicking Krishmar Santokie to the fine leg boundary in the next over.
The pair had carried the score to 63 in the eighth over when Bosman (24 off 21) skied a catch to McCarthy at long on off Merchant. Smith followed for the addition of one more run, bowled off the last ball of Lambert's opening over. From that point, Jamaica put a lid on the All Stars' scoring with just 22 coming between the seventh and 15th overs. Captain Ganga (7 off 12) and South African wicketkeeper Andrew Puttrick (7 off 16) were both kept in check before losing their wickets to Lambert and Miller respectively to leave the score at 79 for four in the 14th. The innings was revived by Kemp, the joint South African record holder for quickest ODI half century (19 balls), who swiped sixes off Santokie, Miller and Richardson on his way to 27 off 21 balls. With 25 needed off the final two overs, Benn, a proven match winner with the bat, edged one from Santokie trying to deposit one into King George V Park. When Hinds took three balls to get off the mark and get Hemp on strike, the result was effectively determined. Though he struck one more maximum in the final over off Richardson, Kemp was finally caught at long on with another 18 runs required off the final three balls.
Scoreboard
Jamaica Innings
X Marshall c Puttick b Dillon 2
N Bonner b Benn 10
T Lambert run out 36
A Mc Carthy b S Ganga 26
D Bernard c Stoute b Kemp 18
H Miller b Ganga 4
J Merchant b Stoute 16
D Jacobs run out 4
N Miller not out 7
A Santokie not out 2
Extras (b1, lb2, w5, nb2) 10
Total (20 overs, 7 wickets) 135
Bowling: Benn 4-0-17-1, Dillon 3-0-23-1, Hinds 4-0-25-0, Stoute 3-0-31-1, Kemp 4-0-19-1, Ganga 2-0-17-2.
FOW: 2, 25, 70, 80, 105, 105, 125, 125.
Ganga All Star XI Innings
D Smith b Lambert 32
L Bosman c Mc Carthy b Merchant 24
A Puttick stpd H Miller b N Miller 7
D Ganga c Bernard b Lambert 7
L Roberts stpd H. Miller b N. Miller 11
J Kemp c McCarthy b Richardson 27
S Benn c wkt H Miller b Santokie 1
Ryan Hinds not out 2
Asad Fudaddin not out 4
Extras (w 8) 8
Total (20 overs, 7 wickets) 123
FOW: 63, 64, 76, 79, 101, 110, 118
Bowling: N Miller 4-0-27-2, Richardson 3-0-27-1, Merchant 4-0-25-1, Santokie 4-0-32-1, Lambert 4-0-11-2, Bernard 1-0-7-0.
Result: Jamaica won by 12 runs.
Man-of-the-Match: Tamar Lambert