THE Jamaica Franchise had a relatively good start to the inaugural Professional Cricket League (PCL), but concerns linger over the performances from the batting unit.

Captained by Tamar Lambert, the team enters the half-way stage of the competition in second place. They have garnered 50 points with three wins from four matches, only seven points behind leaders Guyana Jaguars.

The team also missed the chance to potentially earn more points after the second-round game versus hosts Barbados at Windward Park suffered from three completely rained out days and ended in a draw.

The competition is on a break until February, and despite the weather-affected fixture, on paper, the position of the Jamaica Franchise appears respectable.

However, it is the bowling department that has largely kept Jamaica in the hunt in the revamped West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) four-day tournament. The batting, particularly from the top-order, has been a disappointing aspect for the management staff, the team’s supporters and regional cricket followers.

The 33-year-old Lambert leads Jamaica with an aggregate of 223 runs at an average of 37.16. His tally is fourth in the overall run-scoring list, which is led by Windward Islands Volcanoes left-hander Devon Smith (334 runs).

The next best Jamaican batsman is lower-order player Nikita Miller, who has totaled 178 at 44.50.

The bowling though, has enjoyed success from traditional sources. Wrist-spinner Damion Jacobs, 29, has 18 wickets at 13.11 to be fifth in the overall wicket-taking list. Jamaica’s second best bowler is the slow left-arm orthodox bowler Miller. The 32-year-old is sixth overall with 17 wickets at 14.05. The 19-year-old Marquino Mindley, who took 5-35 on debut against the Windwards last month, has nine wickets at 19 runs-per-wicket.

“Obviously we are not batting very well in our first innings,” said Lambert shortly after the recent win over the Leeward Islands Hurricanes at Sabina Park.

“It’s a work in progress and we need to concentrate a lot better at the top so the middle can come under less pressure. Overall, we are off to a good start in the competition and we are on a break now and that’s something we can rethink.”

Though changes were made to the top-order personnel for the Leewards’ game, the long-time Jamaican skipper was asked if there will be further changes given the continuous below-par batting displays.

He expressed caution at unsettling the make-up of the team and noted the significance of winning despite the much-talked about shortcoming.

“You want to make changes, but you also don’t want to make [too] many changes. Although we have been struggling with our batting we continue to pick up some points and continue to win games. We want to give people a fair chance especially in the batting department. The next game is in February against Guyana here [at Sabina Park] so we still have a lot of time to think about it,” Lambert said.

Junior Bennett, the coach of the Jamaica Franchise, aloso identified the first innings batting performances as a major disappointment so far this season.

“There is a lot of work that needs to be done in our batting. We need to post better first innings totals,” Bennett told the Jamaica Observer.

“It was good to see the better all-round batting in the second innings [versus the Leewards]. Once our middle-order and up top build a good foundation, we’ll get good team totals.”

The veteran coach was however, pleased with the overall standing of the team and lauded the quality of the bowling, catching and fielding.

“To be in this situation is good, bearing in mind that in the Barbados game, three and a half days were washed out. In terms of our bowling and out-cricket that has been good throughout.”