First-Class Matches West Indies 1989/90 to 1998/99

60 West Indies in 1991/92 Both sides won three of their five matches, but the Leewards’ three-wicket defeat by Barbados proved decisive in the final reckoning. In securing their first title since 1988/89, Jamaica owed much to the captaincy and bowling of Courtney Walsh, overlooked for the World Cup but who cashed in with 36 wickets in the Red Stripe competition, a new record for the event beating the previous record of 35 set by his Test partner Curtly Ambrose in 1987/88. Equally important to Jamaica’s success was the batting of left-hander Jimmy Adams, who, eight seasons after his first-class debut, unexpectedly blossomed to score 586 runs in the Red Stripe matches at an average of 97.66, to make him the competition’s leading runscorer of the season . Further down the batting lists the keen-eyed might have taken notice of the first appearance for Guyana of 17-year-old Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who had the misfortune of being run out for 90 in the second innings of his debut match. Bigger things were to come. In the field yet another Jamaican, Robert Haynes, equalled the competition record of 14 catches in a season set by Clayton Lambert in 1984/85 and still unbeaten today. The only other first-class cricket in the West Indies was a visit by an England A side in March. Captained by Walsh, the home side won what was, by Caribbean standards, a low-scoring three- match ‘Test’ series 2-0. Jimmy Adams’s 770 runs at 77.00 comfortably led the way in the overall run-scoring list for the season – a performance which won him his first Test cap in the match against South Africa. Courtney Walsh’s 50 wickets at 14.32 made him equally comfortably the season’s leading wicket- taker. RED STRIPE CUP 1991/92: FINAL TABLE P W L LWF DWF DLF Pts 1 Jamaica 5 3 0 0 1 1 60 2 Leeward Islands 5 3 1 0 1 0 56 3 Barbados 5 2 1 0 1 1 44 4 Guyana 5 1 1 1 0 2 29 5 Trinidad & Tobago 5 0 1 0 2 2 24 6 Windward Islands 5 0 4 0 1 0 8