Jamaica beat Canada by four wickets

Jamaica made hard work of their Digicel-sponsored Jamaica Cricket Festival fifty-over contest against Canada, losing six wickets before labouring past the paltry target of 149 in the 29th over.

Despite having a below-par score to defend, Canada made a contest out of the encounter and showed their intentions from the very first delivery in the Jamaican response, getting rid of opener Danza Hyatt who was caught in the slips by Harvir Baidwan off the bowling of Henry Osinde.

The Canadians were at it again minutes later when Donovan Pagon was sent on his way, caught by Rizwan Cheema off Khurram Chohan, to leave the Jamaicans precariously poised at 3 for 2.

Things looked even worse for the locals when Carlton Baugh and captain Tamar Lambert, who went for a first-ball duck, were sent packing with the score on 64. Opener Brenton Parchment was the saviour for the hosts with a responsible, unbeaten knock of 72 achieved at a run-a-ball, with ten fours. Hard-hitting lower-order batsman Andre Russell hastened the finish, crashing four boundaries in a rapid 19.

Earlier in the day, David Bernard had Canada in trouble early, as the top three fell for single-figure scores. Captain Ashish Bagai stemmed the rot with a 64-ball 53, and he got some support from Usman Limbada and Sunil Dhaniram, before Odean Brown ran through the lower order. He finished with 4 for 33, as Canada folded for 148 in 41 overs.