JAMAICA Scorpions Assistant Coach Nikita Miller says that from a team perspective the batsmen stole the spotlight, even if the odd batting meltdown left them exasperated at times during the just-ended regional four-day championship.

Miller, an ace left-arm finger spinner before retiring from first class cricket a season ago, said that while the largely inexperienced bowling unit held its own, the batting was unlike anything he had seen in recent times.

The Jamaica franchise, enduring a nearly decade-long four-day title drought, finished joint third this season behind the dominant Barbados Pride outfit.

“The batting [impressed the most] because when you looked at seasons past when we finished like fifth, our batting was the talking point for all the bad reasons. This season it’s a talking point again, but this time it’s positive,” the 37-year-old Miller told the Jamaica Observer.

Jamaica Scorpions were the only team to have three players — Nkrumah Bonner, Paul Palmer and Captain John Campbell — scoring two centuries each, while Jermaine Blackwood, who notched a career-best 248, topped the competition with an aggregate of 768 runs.

The 31-year-old Bonner tallied 523 runs in 13 innings for an average of 58.11.

Palmer, 28, a left-handed batsman, accumulated 432 runs in 13 knocks at an average of 43.2.

The left-handed West Indies Test opener Campbell, 26, batted in 15 innings to end with 491 runs at an average of 32.73.

The 28-year-old Blackwood was consistent throughout, averaging 51.20 in 15 innings. His mammoth knock was accompanied by six half-centuries.

Miller said Blackwood’s performances revived memories of Marlon Samuels’ golden streaks in first class cricket. Samuels, a classy Test batsman, amassed 853 runs in 14 innings at an average of 65.61 in the 2010-11 season. He scored three hundreds, including a best-of-250 not out, along with two half-centuries.

In the 2005-06 season Samuels eased his way to 716 runs, which included two centuries and a highest of 257. He averaged 47.73 in 16 innings.

“The last person that won most runs for Jamaica was probably Marlon [Samuels] when he scored something like 1,000 runs, or close to that. That was a long time ago,” said Miller, who was assistant coach to Andre Coley throughout the recent tournament.

There have been stark reminders the batting still requires fine-tuning.

Playing away to Windward Islands Volcanoes, the Scorpions were bowled out for 60 in the second innings after they had secured a healthy, 164-run first-innings lead. And at home to Guyana Jaguars they calamitously collapsed — albeit on a challenging pitch — to 111 all out in their second innings, despite getting under way with a 75-run first-wicket partnership.

Not surprisingly, they lost both games.

“We had periods in the season when we were disappointing, namely the second innings of the Windwards game, and against Guyana in the second innings in Jamaica. There is still room for improvement, but from an overall picture it [the batting] was the most impressive,” he explained.

The former regional cricket bowling star noted that consistent performances, not only from the batting unit, are needed if the Scorpions are to lift their first title since 2012.

“It will take a while before we have the consistency of winning games, and the coach [Coley] pointed that out at the beginning of the season,” he told the Observer.

Barbados Pride, the runaway leaders, were declared winners of the six-team tournament, which was brought to a premature end as only eight of the 10 rounds were played due to health concerns arising from the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Trinidad and Tobago Red Force were runners-up, while the previous champions Guyana Jaguars shared third place with the Scorpions. Windward Islands Volcanoes and Leeward Islands Hurricanes were fifth and last, respectively.