KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) – A dangerous pitch on Wednesday forced the abandonment of the third Jamaica trial match after four balls on the second day at Sabina Park.Once the fourth delivery of the day from pacer Jason Dawes snorted from a full length and forced Kemar Marshall to take evasive action, umpires consulted with coaching officials before deciding to scrap the game.
“The match has been called off because the umpires deemed it (pitch) unfit for play. It’s extremely disappointing … (but) we had to look out for the health of the players,” head coach Junior Bennett was quoted as saying.
He added: “It (pitch) was worse today … balls were jumping a lot. It was rolled a few times and still it was behaving like this in the morning.”
Paul Palmer’s XI had added two runs to their overnight 84 for one when play was called off. Shacaya Thomas, unbeaten on an aggressive 56 overnight, finished on 57.
The right-hander took quite a few blows on Tuesday’s opening day as the pitch behaved erratically but he counter-attacked with seven fours and two sixes.
“I’m disappointed (the match was called off). I was looking good, though the pitch was difficult to bat on,” the Jamaica Observer newspaper quoted Thomas as saying.
“Normally a ball you’d come forward to would pass over your head. It was unpredictable, so in the best interest it was called off so no one could get hurt.”
John Campbell’s XI were dismissed for 124 on Tuesday’s first day.
Sabina Park is scheduled to host a two-day trial game next week.