Hyatt rebounds from injury with stroke-filled half-century

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – West Indies A batsman Danza Hyatt hinted at a full recovery from injury with a cracking half-century, as he tuned up for next week’s start of the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship.

The aggressive right-hander spanked five fours and five sixes in 79 from 48 balls to lift Wavell Hinds’ XI to 155 for four off their 20 overs.

Hyatt’s form will be reassuring for coach Gus Logie especially following a finger injury he sustained last December which ruled him out of part of Jamaica’s preparation for the January 10-23 tournament in Antigua and Barbados.

Marlon Samuels

“I can say is that it is feeling good, though there is just a bit of stiffness still,” Hyatt told the Jamaica Observer.

“Once I started hitting a couple of balls it felt better but I know the finger is not 100 per cent. I just tried to bat out the overs to get the team to a good total.”

Marlon Samuels stroked a measured 31 from 32 balls to support Hyatt while left-arm wrist spinner Dennis Bulli grabbed two for 24 for Brenton Parchment’s XI.

Hyatt’s effort proved in vain, however, as Parchment’s XI motored to 159 for six off the last ball of the innings to win by four wickets.

The skipper hit 35 from 20 balls while Simon Jackson hammered a run-a-ball 34, and West Indies Under-19 all-rounder Jermaine Blackwood, 25.

Jamaica will play their final practice game on Wednesday before departing the island for Antigua where they will clash in Group A of the CT20 with defending champions Guyana, Windward Islands, Combined Campuses and Colleges and English County Somerset.