KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) – Leeward Islands Hurricanes are protesting after losing to Jamaica Franchise by four wickets in the fourth round of the WICB Professional Cricket league (PCL) on Monday.

Coach Ridley Jacobs has complained that Hurricanes lost the match because the ball was changed on the third afternoon of the match.
Reports suggest that the ball was missing during the tea interval and another ball was unknowingly used in its place for the start of Sunday’s final session.
“There was a problem with the ball before tea yesterday (third day),” said Jacobs.
“The umpires misplaced the ball, came with a different ball and that changed the complexion of the game.”
The original ball was 16 overs old, while the replacement ball was said to have been used for 34 overs.
Jamaica, whose batsmen struggled against the original ball, entered the break at 42-3 before the older ball was employed for the post-tea session.
In that time, the Jamaicans recovered to close the day on 160-4, just 35 runs shy of the 195 needed for victory.
“At 42 for three heading into the tea interval, our guys were fully up to it and confident of restricting Jamaica to under the 195. We had them 35 for five in the first innings, the same Jamaica batting, so we thought that we had a good score, which could have won the game,” said Jacobs, a former West Indies wicketkeeper.
“It so happened that the ball we were bowling with before tea was 16 overs old, and the ball the umpires came out with after tea was 34 overs old. That’s a big difference. The ball that we had first was doing a lot, and the ball they gave us did not do anything. That is the reason why we lost the game”.
The umpires were Trinidad and Tobago’s Danesh Ramdhanie, Jamaica’s Christopher Taylor, with Jamaica’s Athol Hamilton performing third-umpire duties.
Jacobs says Leeward Island Volcanoes intend to lodge an official complaint to the WICB.
“There will definitely be an official complaint, as that should not be happening in any cricket game,” he added.
Leeward Islands suffered their fourth defeat in a row and collected just three points from the match to remain rooted at the bottom of the standings on ten points.
Jamaica grabbed 16, to move to 50 points overall, on the heels of the Jaguars who lead with 57 points.