Jamaica's Jerome Taylor ... named man-of-the-match. - file

bridgetown, barbados, cmc

Jamaica, behind an important all-round performance from Jerome Taylor and superb fielding by Shawn Findlay, captured the 2007 KFC Cup with a hard-fought victory by 28 runs over Trinidad and Tobago in a competitive final at the 3Ws Oval yesterday.

After Brenton Parchment's half-century and crucial runs from the lower order rallied Jamaica to 230 in 50 overs, pacer Taylor grabbed three wickets and Findlay took two sensational catches and also effected a run-out to help restrict Trinidad and Tobago to 202 in 49.3 overs.

In a match of fluctuating fortunes, Jamaica recovered from 36 for three and later 167 for seven, thanks mainly to Parchment's 52 and the support from the lower half which included 18 from Taylor.

Findlay's fielding

The West Indies fast bowler then made impact with the new ball by collecting the wickets of Daren Ganga and Mario Belcon, but the large turnout of spectators was more impressed with Findlay's outstanding fielding.

He took a fantastic one-handed catch at long-off to account for Kieron Pollard for 27 and then completed a run-out with a direct throw from cover that got rid of top-scorer Lendl Simmons for 64. He later held another fine, diving catch at cover to help dismiss Rayad Emrit.

Taylor, who finished with three for 37 from 10 overs to win the Man-of-the-Match award, removed Belcon via the lbw route and had Ganga caught by the keeper attempting to hook.

Captain Chris Gayle also bagged three wickets at a cost of 32 runs and one of his victims was Denesh Ramdin who made 48 before falling in the 42nd over when he was the last hope for Trinidad and Tobago.

Impressive parchment

Jamaica, sent in, benefited from an impressive 52 off 67 balls from opener Parchment, but they were put under pressure by a quick three-wicket haul from leg-spinner Samuel Badree that caused them to lose momentum.

After a slow start in the historic day/night affair, Parchment and Gayle seemed to be getting into stride before Gayle fell to a fine low catch by Badree at short mid-wicket from a firm pull against Mervyn Dillon.

Findlay was soon bowled attempting to drive off-spinner Sherwin Ganga, who played a key role in stemming the early flow of runs before Badree came into the attack

With Parchment and Brendan Nash together in a third-wicket partnership of 49, Jamaica were setting up nicely for a big total but Badree applied the brakes with the quick dismissals of both batsman and also claimed the wicket of Tamar Lambert to leave Jamaica at 103 for five in the 28th over.

After Nash edged a drive to slip, Parchment played across and was bowled to end a promising innings that included six boundaries. Trinidad and Tobago then seized the initiative as Lambert was caught at the wicket attempting to run a ball to third-man.

Jamaica revived their effort with a sixth-wicket partnership of 45 between Danza Hyatt (28) and Carlton Baugh (25) before the latter gave a catch to deep cover.

After Hyatt was caught at cover, there were useful runs from Nikita Miller (26) and Darren Powell (20) that pushed Jamaica up to their winning total.

For Trinidad and Tobago, Sherwin Ganaga finished with three for 31 from 10 overs, while Badree took three for 36, also off 10 overs.