(Jamaica Gleaner) The fourth-round regional West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) four-day match at Sabina Park was marred by controversy and left the Leeward Islands Hurricanes hopping mad after their loss by four wickets to hosts Jamaica.
Their discontent centres on the changing of the cricket ball they bowled with on the third afternoon of the intriguing encounter.
It is understood that the ball they were using went missing during the tea interval and another ball was unknowingly used in its place for the start of Sunday’s final session. In cricket, the umpires take responsibility for the ball once there is a break in play.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. The older ball was employed for the post-tea session. In that time, the batting side recovered to close the day on 160-4, just 35 runs shy of the 195 needed for victory.
Their head coach Ridley Jacobs, who said the Hurricanes will be filing a complaint to the regional board, explained that his team was disadvantaged by being forced to use the older ball, which in general theory, would offer less assistance to the bowlers.
“The ball that we were bowling with was 16-overs and the ball they came back out with was 34-overs — that’s a big difference. The ball we had was doing a lot and the other one they gave us didn’t do anything, and that’s the reason we lost the game,” Jacobs told a throng of journalists after the defeat.
“Jamaica played well, and I must give them credit, but I thought we had a good chance of winning the game.”
Jacobs, the former West Indies wicketkeeper/batsman, said his players recognised it was a different ball once it was returned to them upon the resumption.
According to the Leewards coach, the presiding umpires — Jamaican Christopher Taylor and Trinidad & Tobago’s Danesh Ramdhanie — revealed there was a blunder after play was called for the day.
“After tea, the bowlers were complaining to the umpires that they had the wrong ball and that it was not the original ball. The umpires basically were saying it was the right ball. After the end of the day’s play, we had a brief conference with the umpires and they showed us the right ball and said the ball was lost and that it was replaced.”
Jamaica were awarded 12 points for their third victory of the campaign and gained three bowling points and another one for batting for an overall 16 points. That kept them in second place on 50 points, just seven behind leaders Guyana Jaguars.
The Leewards, who suffered their fourth straight loss, benefited from only three bowling points from the encounter and stay at the foot of the standings with 10 points.
