JUNIOR Bennett, coach of Jamaica’s franchise, is optimistic that his team can make a positive start to the new season of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Professional Cricket League (PCL) Regional Four-Day Tournament which opens on Friday.

Following five straight seasons as overall champions and the 2013 season when they played unbeaten in the preliminary competition but failed to lift the overall title, Jamaica had to settle for being winners of just the final challenge last season, which earned them the Headley/Weekes Trophy.

But, with the trophy being restored as the symbol of regional four-day supremacy for the long season which comes to a close in March, the Jamaicans will be looking to make a bright start as they seek to reclaim the title as overall champions.

The Jamaicans will face the Windward Islands Volcanoes at Sabina Park in a repeat of last season’s Final Challenge.

“We are looking forward to the new season. Our preparations have been going well [and] the players have been putting in some creditable performances in local matches, so we are hoping to make a positive start to the new season and in the matches before the Christmas break – and that our senior players can lead from the front,” Bennett said.

“[Last season] We had a lot of young players and they took a long time to settle down, so towards the back-end of the tournament they began to play more consistently. We are hoping that they can all make a better start to the tournament in this new season and we can get some positive results early. Once we play consistently well, we will again be competitive,” added Bennett.

The coach hailed the extension of the revamped tournament to 10 rounds as “something that should have been done from a long time”, and he added that the length of the season will not deter the players.

“Five or six first-class matches a season are definitely not enough. Under this format, you give players more opportunities. If a player starts a season not doing well, he has a chance to return at the back-end of the tournament and put together a few good performances, so I really welcome this new format.

“The players are in good physical condition, we have managed over the last few seasons to stay relatively injury-free, [so] this season should not be too difficult. I remember the last time the season was contested over 10 rounds, we played all of the matches back-to-back without any break. This time, we play four matches and have a month-long break to play the NAGICO Super50 tournament and then get back to the first-class matches — and there is another break after the seventh round, so I think it will be much easier going this season,” he explained.

The Tamar Lambert-led team will include Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner and Andre McCarthy, all of whom Bennett believes have “shown a lot of potential”, and need to start delivering and “become match-winners for us”.

Squad: Tamar Lambert (captain), Nkrumah Bonner, Jermaine Blackwood, Carlton Baugh Jr, John Campbell, Andre McCarthy, Shacaya Thomas, Nikita Miller, David Bernard Jr, Damion Jacobs, Jason Dawes, Keno Wallace, Marquino Mindley.