PACER Jerome Taylor starred with the ball on the third day of the final squad match before Jamaica oppose Guyana in the opening round of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) four-day regional tournament at the Alpart Sports Club on Friday.

Bowling for David Bernard Jr’s XI, Taylor, who has been hampered by injuries over the last year and a half, took six wickets for 51 runs off 20 overs to help dismiss Tamar Lambert’s XI for 344 yesterday at the Kensington Park in east Kingston.

Lambert topscored with a fluent 82 off 110 balls, including seven fours and two sixes, while wicketkeeper batsman Chadwick Walton struck a patient 78 off 176 balls. Young all-rounders Akeem Dewar and Jermaine Blackwood struck 33 and 31, respectively.

Veteran off-spinner Bevon Brown supported Taylor with three for 78.

Batting a second time, Bernard’s XI ended on 67 for two after Danza Hyatt (16) and the in-form Donavan Pagon (five) both fell to Blackwood’s spin. Marshall remained unbeaten on 42 from 86 balls, and with him is first innings centurion Marlon Samuels on four.

The final day’s play is scheduled to start at 10:00 this morning.

On the opening two days of the match, Bernard’s XI had largely bossed proceedings after compiling 306, thanks to Samuels’ 156, which was laced with 18 boundaries.

The squad for the clash with the Guyanese is to be ratified by the Jamaica Cricket Association and is expected to be announced later today. The team will be led by Lambert, who has guided the Jamaicans to victory in the last three editions of the four-day competition.

Other matches on the weekend will see Combined Campuses and Colleges entertaining the Windward Islands, Leeward Islands welcoming the invited England Lions team and Trinidad & Tobago facing last season’s runners-up Barbados.