JAMAICA Scorpions Captain Jermaine Blackwood says his team learnt from prior mistakes as they recorded an emphatic 10-wicket victory over Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) on the penultimate day of the regional four-day match at Sabina Park in Kingston.

Chasing a meagre 64 runs for victory the Scorpions raced to 69 without loss halfway into the 10th over of the innings.

The Scorpions’ 38-year-old batsman Chadwick Walton, who scored a splendid and pivotal 163 in the first innings, made an unbeaten, 34-ball 46 in the run chase, while his opening partner Carlos Brown supported with 19 not out from 23 deliveries. The duo had previously shared in a match-defining, 169-run stand in the first innings.

Before that, off spinner Peat Salmon took 4-12 and pacer Gordon Bryan, who bowled with admirable skill and effort throughout the match, claimed 3-19 to skittle Combined Campuses and Colleges for 87 in their second innings.

Scores: CCC 307 (97 overs) & 87 (30.4 overs); Scorpions 331 (91.2 overs) & 69-0 (9.3 overs).

The win was the first for the Scorpions this season after their first-round, nine-wicket defeat to Windward Islands Volcanoes last week at Sabina Park. It was also their first win in regional cricket since 2022, after disappointingly going without a win in the four-day competition last season and enduring a similar fate in the Super50 late last year.

“Last week didn’t go as we planned but this week we came and rectified things,” Blackwood told the Jamaica Observer during a post-match interview on Friday.

“I want to credit all the players, especially Chadwick and Gordon Bryan, because I think they were exceptional this game. We strive to make 300 plus in the first innings… we just have to pay more attention to partnerships like the one that Carlos and Chadwick had.”

While praising the bowling unit Blackwood said there is still room for improvement, notably from the middle order batsmen.

“We still have a little work to do in the middle but I’m very happy with the first-innings [performance], and I think we bowled pretty well too.

“If some things didn’t happen in the first innings they can always be rectified in the second innings — and I think the bowlers did that pretty well. They went out there and they executed their plans,” the Scorpions skipper explained.

Pedro Collins, the CCC assistant coach, said his team’s second-innings flop was a major turning point.

“I thought our boys played well in patches but we’re a young group and we didn’t command the sessions that we could have commanded. I thought in the second innings we batted very poorly and we were in it until that time… [but] getting bowled out for 80-odd is not good enough,” he said.

Collins, the former West Indies left-arm pacer, hailed CCC’s rookie bowler Zishan Motara for an outstanding haul in the first innings.

“Young Motara, the leg spinner at 17 years old, did a fantastic job getting seven wickets in the first innings, which really put us back in the game. It was a very good wicket for batting; I thought he bowled really well.”

Friday morning the Scorpions resumed from their overnight first-innings score of 259-6 and pushed on to 331 all out.

They lost Romaine Morris (four), nightwatchman Bryan (nine), and Marquino Mindley to slump to 297-9. But all-rounder Salmon unleashed several lusty blows in a 44-ball 45, before he was last man out, to ensure the Scorpions took a first-innings lead.

The Barbadian Motara, playing only his second first class match, added to his four wickets from Thursday to end with career-best figures of 7-108.

Trailing by only 24 runs, CCC fell into early trouble when Shaqkere Parris (0) was given out edging behind an away-swinging Bryan delivery through to wicketkeeper Morris.

Sidelined West Indies Test batsman Shamarh Brooks (12) got a peach of a delivery from tearaway speedster Ojay Shields that shaped away late to nick the bat through to Morris.

Next to go was Shatrughan Rambaran (one). He got a thick edge on a Bryan delivery for Morris to dive spectacularly to his right and take a fine low catch.

The fall of experienced Barbadian left-hander Jonathan Carter (0) at 34-4, in the same over bowled by Bryan, effectively spelt the end for the visitors.

The 36-year-old CCC captain, whose glorious, unbeaten 137 formed the backbone of their first-innings 307, flicked a leg stump delivery to Shields at long leg who held on at the second attempt.

After Bryan broke the back of the CCC batting, slow bowlers Salmon and Abhijai Mansingh (2-34) got rid of the remaining six wickets in quick time ahead of the tea break.

On the resumption, Walton and Brown flayed the bowlers all around the ground to quickly wrap up victory.

In the other match hosted in Jamaica, the Windward Islands Volcanoes team defeated Barbados Pride by nine wickets at Kensington Park in Kingston.

Scores: Pride 214 (49.5 overs) & 126 (38.1 overs); Volcanoes 325 (98.1 overs) & 18-1 (3.5 overs).