VETERAN fast bowler Jerome Taylor and medium pacer Rovman Powell came in for loads of praise after Jamaica Scorpions escaped with a one-wicket victory over Leeward Islands Hurricanes in the West Indies four-day championship.

Paul Palmer, the Scorpions captain, said the pair was vital in restricting the hosts to scores of 204 and 142 in the sixth-round contest which ended on Saturday’s third day in St Kitts.

The 34-year-old Taylor took 5-28 in the first innings and followed with four wickets in the second innings to end with match figures of 9-59. Powell, 25, and fellow medium pacer Derval Green, 30, claimed match hauls of 5-80 and 4-56, respectively.

“I think Jerome Taylor really set it up for us, to dismiss them cheaply in the second innings. And Rovman Powell also chipped in so I think those two were the standout performers with the ball,” Palmer told the Jamaica Observer on Sunday.

In the batting department, Jermaine Blackwood scored a half-century in the Scorpions’ first-innings score of 190, while Assad Fudadin top-scored with 38 in their 160-9.

The Hurricanes’ Jamaican-born wrist spinner Damion Jacobs did his best to derail the Scorpions’ quest for victory, taking 11 wickets in the match.

Victory for the Scorpions — their second in a row after beginning the season with three-straight losses — lifted them to fifth in the six-team table, with 51.2 points from five matches.

Four-time defending champions Guyana Jaguars remain in the lead with 92 points from six matches, followed by Windward Islands Volcanoes (69), Leeward Island Hurricanes (64.4), Barbados Pride (54.2) and Trinidad and Tobago Red Force (50.2).

With the Scorpions next facing the Jaguars in Guyana, starting Thursday, Palmer said the drive to improve must continue.

“We are quite happy [to win] but we know there is a lot more work to be done because we still have five games to go.”

Palmer addressed the inconsistent performances from the batsmen, including his poor run in the middle order, noting that they haven’t always had the rub of the green.

“It’s been a tough patch for me, but I’m just trying to stay positive to try to get through it; I’m just trying to spend some time at the crease. I’ve had some unfortunate dismissals but I’m still trying to get amongst the runs.

“We had a few [questionable] decisions that went against us, but with that said I think we made some mistakes when we batted. We gave away some wickets cheaply — lack of responsibility caused us to lose a few wickets,” he explained.

He added that the Warner Park pitch was not the easiest to bat on, offering assistance to both the quick and slow bowlers.

“I would say it was favourable to both because it [assisted] fast bowling as well as spin bowling, because the ball was moving around and it also spun,” Palmer said.