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DISCOVERY BAY – Another 40 runs are required. Only two wickets are in hand. One of them is the century-maker Wavell Hinds.

And about 7 500 Jamaicans packed in at the Kaiser Sports Club believe their team can still deny Barbados the Red Stripe Bowl and a first regional limited-overs title in 14 years.

Then Hinds lifts Corey Collymore in the direction of "cow corner". The cheers around the ground escalate.

Ryan Hinds, from deep mid-wicket, and Philo Wallace, from long-on, sprint towards the ball. Neither of them has a chance to make it, it seems.

Then there is a pause.

Ryan Hinds makes a desperate dive towards the ball. And he comes up with an amazing catch inches off the turf. There and then Barbados knew that the moment they had waited for since 1988 was only a few minutes away.

They would go on to win an absorbing final by 33 runs and Ryan Hinds' effort in the late stages typified the effort Barbados displayed throughout the entire match and the tournament.

They had to dig deep to post a workable 241 for eight from their 50 overs and tenaciously defended it as if they were trying to save their lives.

Jamaica had to fight for every single run and buckled under tight bowling from Ian Bradshaw and Vasbert Drakes at the start. The pressure was so tight that the uncertain Jamaicans suffered by three run-outs.

In the end, they were all out for 208 in 46.2 overs, Barbados' victory by 33 runs giving them their first hold on the crystal Bowl and their first domestic limited-overs title since 1988 when team coach Hendy Springer was part of Malcolm Marshall's side that won a heart-stopper against Jamaica at Sabina Park.

After the celebrations died down last night, Springer praised his men.

"The guys are very elated with their performances. I too am impressed that the guys have lifted their game," the Barbados coach told NATIONSPORT.

"This victory was about team work, sitting down and planning for the opposition and actually executing the plan."

It was a match that Barbados dominated throughout, but there might have been some worry when Wavell Hinds and Robert Samuels were trying to stage a fightback in a sixth-wicket partnership of 57 in 6.2 overs after Jamaica were struggling on 114 for five in the 33rd over.

The restriction had been caused principally by Bradshaw and Drakes, who shared the first 20 overs in which they gave up only 37 runs between them.

By then, the confused Jamaicans suffered the first of their three run-outs. Leon Garrick was gone by the distance of the pitch. Later, it was a similar situation for Marlon Samuels.

Hinds kept the fight going and wickets fell at regular periods, but his presence was enough to cause Barbados some concern.

"We let it slip a bit coming on to the end of the game," Springer said.

"Wavell was batting really well and he was in. Unfortunately for him, he was out to a brilliant catch simply because the pressure built up because wickets were falling at the other end."

Greasy-fingered

After they were sent in on a pitch of variable bounce, Barbados' total was built principally on Final Four MVP Floyd Reifer's 86 off 98 balls and Kurt Wilkinson's 62 off 113 balls, but there was no doubt that captain Courtney Browne and the greasy-fingered Jamaicans provided the impetus at a critical stage.

When Wilkinson, the identified sheet anchor who would later become bothered by a hip problem, was dismissed in the 33rd over to end a third-wicket partnership of 74 in 21.1 overs with Reifer, Barbados were in need of a boost after Chris Gayle's off-spin had applied the brakes to a speedy start.

All of a sudden, the Jamaicans committed a series of blunders that included elementary mistakes that would have even embarrassed primary schoolboys. The most comical was a skier in the middle of the pitch that wicket-keeper Keith Hibbert spilled in a manner that brought back memories of a certain West Indian gloveman in a World Cup match.

Reifer was then 28 and in the following over, Browne on one, was put down at cover by rival captain Robert Samuels.

The Jamaicans paid dearly for their mistakes with Browne and Reifer proceeding to belt eight sixes between them in the last 15 overs that yielded 115 runs to the dismay of partisan fans.

On his day, Browne is one of the most destructive players of spin bowling in the Caribbean and duly took advantage of Samuels' generosity by depositing Gareth Breese's off-spin three times over the ropes in the 39th over.

The first of those sixes, a trademark slog-sweep that Steve Waugh has made famous, disturbed the grill of a food vendor ten feet beyond the mid-wicket boundary. Before the damage could be assessed, the next ball was parried over square-leg by Wavell Hinds.

Reifer has been Barbados' most consistent batsmen during this competition, but he couldn't find his touch until the latter stages when two of his four sixes came in the final three overs.

By then, Barbados had taken a couple of expected risks that resulted in a couple of wickets towards the end, including the confusing run-out of Drakes,who in spite of having a runner, ran down the pitch and was given run out when the keeper broke the stumps at the striker's end.

The sloppiness Jamaica displayed when Reifer and Browne were in was in sharp contrast to the start when Ricardo Powell turned, sprinted back and dived full stretch to haul in a remarkable catch that accounted for the dangerous Philo Wallace.

There was some debate over whether Hinds' effort matched his. There was no debate, however, about which team played better on the day.

AWARDS:

Most Valuable Player: Floyd Reifer

Best Batsman: Wavell Hinds

Best Bowler: Vasbert Drakes

Best Allrounder: Chris Gayle

© The Barbados Nation