( L - R ) Junior Bennett, Gavin Wallace - file

BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CMC)

Coach Junior Bennett has applauded leg-spinner Gavin Wallace and the entire Jamaica team effort that led to a rare victory in the Leeward Islands on Sunday.

Newcomer Wallace used a record eight-wicket haul to engineer a dramatic six-wicket victory for reigning champions Jamaica over the Leeward Islands in their first-round WICB Four-day Regional match at Warner Park.

It was Jamaica's first regional four-day win in the Leeward Islands since 1967.

"The out-cricket was good, Wallace bowled brilliantly and overall it was a good team effort," Bennett told CMC Sport.

The Leewards had appeared to tighten their grip on the game when they claimed a 71-run first innings advantage on Sunday morning, but their batting plunged to a catastrophic second innings score of 91 when Wallace snared eight for 20 off 10 overs, the best ever for a Jamaican in tournament history.

Telling effect

In a dream debut for Jamaica, Wallace used the googly to telling effect and ripped through the Leewards' second innings.

His figures bettered Nehemiah Perry's eight for 45 against Guyana at Sabina Park in 1989 as Jamaica's best.

The Jamaicans, who had only scored 227 in response to the Leewards' first innings 298, claimed victory with a day to spare - at 163 for four, after being set 163 to win.

Wallace, who had previous first-class experience with the Combined Campuses & Colleges last year but was a first-timer for Jamaica, completed a match haul of 11 for 73.

He had taken three wickets in the first innings and Bennett said he was the key to the Jamaicans' dramatic come-from-behind victory.

"Wallace showed signs of promise from in first innings and the problem for the Leewards batsman was that they had real problems picking his googly," Bennett said.

Second-round game

But Bennett, who heads for Trinidad and Tobago today for their second-round game this weekend, was not happy with all aspects of his team's performance.

There were hardly any significant scores for the Jamaica batsmen in the game.

Donovan Pagon (62), Tamar Lambert (38), Keith Hibbert (34), Wavell Hinds (31) were the leading scorers in the first innings, and Danza Hyatt (46), Lambert (32), and Hinds (30 not out) led the way in the second innings.

Bennett wants to see better batting and fast bowling.

"The batting needs improvement, there were too many batsmen getting starts and not carrying on," Bennett said.

"Also, I was not happy with the fast bowlers on the first morning. They conceded 73 runs in the first hour but there was some improvement there in the second innings," Bennett said.

The Jamaicans are joint early leaders in the tournament after claiming maximum 12 points from their opening game.