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Let down once more by their batsmen, Barbados' cricketers were summoned to a team meeting immediately after they narrowly avoided defeat in their second round Busta match against Jamaica yesterday.

The meeting, which lasted almost 45 minutes, kept patient reporters waiting for post-match interviews.

It would be fair to assume that they were trying to find reasons why the batting so meekly surrendered to the uncomplicated off-spin of Gareth Breese and left-arm spin of Ryan Cunningham.

Barbados, set the unrealistic target of 317 in a minimum of 70 overs after Jamaica mysteriously delayed their second innings declaration until 11:30, finished on 138 for eight, mainly due to a face-saving eighth-wicket partnership between Courtney Browne and Dave Marshall.

When they came together at 106 for seven, it was not yet 4 p.m. and 19 overs were still available for the depleted defending champions to take the next wickets and complete their second victory on the trot.

Even if he chose to play the dangerous sweep shot repeatedly, Browne batted very well for his 45, while Marshall rarely attempted an ill-advised stroke in the hour-and-a-quarter be batted for his two runs.

During that period, they survived a few raucous appeals, one of which Jamaica showed their obvious disgust that could lead to disciplinary action.

Barbados earned three points, but it was a performance that would have raised several questions over the mistakes of their senior batsmen, many of whom were victims of cross-batted strokes.

During their team meeting, it was evident that chief selector Desmond Haynes was not pleased by what happened in the middle.

'The chairman of selectors always has a lot to say,' coach Hendy Springer said after emerging from the meeting. 'He is a very, very experienced person in all aspects of life and I respect him for that.'

'He was just urging the guys on speaking about different aspects, not necessarily of play, but cricket and life in general. It is always good to have him come around to lend his expertise.'

Bradshaw made no excuses for the batsmen.

'The manner of dismissals in this game is something that we will have to look at,' the captain said. 'Obviously we are stressing to the guys to value their wicket, the importance of batting long and occupying the crease.'

Jamaica, already criticised for their cautious approach on Sunday evening when they went on the defensive in the closing stages, delayed their declaration after adding another 73 to their overnight lead of 243.

It appeared a puzzling tactic to the small crowd ' especially in light of the final result ' but captain Robert Samuels said no one could have predicated the outcome.

'At the end of the day, you can say `yeah' we should have declared earlier on, but looking at the game from this (yesterday) morning, we could not have seen that,' Samuels said.

'The way it turned out this (yesterday) evening, it might have been a little too late. If anybody could have told me that, I would have listened and did what they said.'

Chris Gayle duly completed his third first-class hundred which was raised with a powerful extra-cover drive, but it took him half-an-hour against accurate bowling from Bradshaw and Hendy Bryan to get the three runs he needed.

Nightwatchman Ryan Cunningham stayed around for almost 45 minutes without much purpose and the scoring rate was only raised when Nehemiah Perry came out to join Gayle.

By the time the declaration was made with Gayle unbeaten on 131 from 268 balls, in almost seven hours' batting in which he struck 18 boundaries, Barbados were left with just 20 minutes to negotiate before the lunch break.

It was enough time for Franklyn Rose to put them on the backf foot with the wickets of Adrian Griffith, bowled from the third ball attempting to drive a ball of fullish length, and Sean Armstrong, a victim to a first slip catch from a loose drive.

The pre-tea session was generally slow, but it was a refreshing Floyd Reifer emerging from his wretched form to play positively, especially when driving through the off-side.

Reifer had the benefit of a firm chance to Ryan Cunningham at mid-off when he was 17, but there was no such luck for Philo Wallace and Roland Holder in a session in which Barbados scored only 45 runs.

Survival was the key, but Wallace was bowled behind his back attempting to sweep Breese, while Holder was beaten against Cunningham's flighted left-arm spin and was bowled playing across the line.

After tea, taken at 67 for four, Reifer, on 56, was caught at cover shaping to play to leg and Bradshaw and Bryan soon followed. Browne and Marshall, however, stopped the Jamaicans' advance.

© The Barbados Nation