HINDS STARS

AS he has been forced to do several times over, Wavell Hinds had to prove a point at Chedwin Park yesterday. Again, it came in the form of a brilliant 95 that by now should have wiped away any doubt about his value to the Jamaica team, which continued to punish the Windward Islands by close of the second day of their opening round four-day regional cricket match.

Eyeing the first task of going past the 181 scored by the Windwards on Friday's first day, Jamaica, resuming on 36 for two, were bowled out for 335, an overall lead of 154, a mere 18 minutes before the stumps were drawn.

Before the shadows lengthened, Jamaica's pacer Andrew Richardson dislodged danger man Devon Smith first ball, as the Windwards closed on 19-1, still 135 runs in arrears.

Unless the Windwards can show more spunk in their second turn at bat, the match could be all over by today.

Hinds was punishing in his knock, which came in 201 minutes off 140 balls with eight fours, and four massive sixes that not only paved the way for Jamaica to gain first-innings points, but laid the platform for a convincing outright win.

The left-hander, who has not played for the West Indies since 2005 in Adelaide, Australia, put all his experience on the table in keeping the innings glued, after the defending champions at times looked like they wanted the Windwards to get back on even terms.

His 50 came off 91 balls in 116 minutes, and at that stage he hit five fours and three sixes.

The former Camperdown High School head boy who played both schoolboy cricket and Manning Cup football for his school, walked to the wicket with Jamaica unsteady at 133-4 and, along with Donovan Pagon, gave Jamaica the fillip they needed to wrest the advantage.

Before Hinds' heroics, captain Tamar Lambert, who resumed on 16, fell to a catch on the long leg boundary to Kenroy Peters off his pace mate, the zippy Grenadian Nelon Pascal, whose 2-88 clearly did not reflect his level of hostility.

Brendan Nash looked like a true West Indies player in a polished 68-ball knock of 40 (seven fours), before he became one of two victims for leg-spinner Rawl Lewis, ending a 75-run alliance for the fourth wicket with Pagan that took Jamaica from 58-3 to 133,

The loss of Pagan to Lewis (two for 40) for a disciplined 56 (eight fours) made in 217 minutes off 155 balls, meant that Jamaica, then on 151-5, still had to dig deep to claim the vital first-innings advantage.

Hinds, though, kept a cool head in his chanceless display of vintage batsmanship, as the 33-year-old with five centuries from his 45 Tests, stood up with Kensington club mate David Bernard Jnr in a sixth-wicket partnership worth 78, the best of the match so far that put Jamaica firmly in command.

Bernard, 33, Carlton Baugh Jnr, 23, and bowling hero Nikita Miller with 15 all went back to decent cheers from the fair-sized crowd, but it was when Peters disrupted Hinds' stumps with Jamaica 318 for nine, that the fans agonised over what they expected to have been a fitting and extra-classy century that never materialised.

Those moans and groans turned to joy soon after, as Richardson, who went wicketless in the Windwards' first innings, rattled Smith's stumps when the visitors batted again.

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