Tournament leaders Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago will renew their age-old cricket rivalry when they clash at Alpart Sports Club in St Elizabeth in the ninth round of the WICB Four-day Championship, starting today.

The Jamaicans, who lost outright to lowly placed Leeward Islands at Sabina Park last weekend, will be aiming to get things right against the Trinidadians who, having claimed first innings points against Barbados in their last encounter, are in third position in the championship and within touching distance of the leaders.

Jamaica, who have won four, drawn two and lost once, lead the league standings with 60 points, six more than second-place Barbados and 12 ahead of Trinidad and Tobago, with four rounds of matches to go.

Good positions

"Against the Leewards we played poor cricket and have put ourselves in a spot, but come this weekend we are looking to turn around things," said captain Tamar Lambert who, for the first time 17 matches, lost a game outright. "Our bowlers are putting us in good positions, but our batting is inconsistent and here is where we need to improve most," he added.

Lambert won 12 matches outright and five on first innings in the previous games he led, dating back to 2005.

In a bid to bolster the team's chances this weekend, the Jamaican selectors recalled left-handed batsman Shawn Findlay and wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh to the squad, and throughout the week both have been training with the team.

Six-wicket haul

"It's going to be a huge challenge for us because we have been winning all our games on first innings points. Coming to Jamaica, we need to get full points. It's going to be hard work but the guys are up to it, and we hope to pull it off," said Trinidad and Tobago pacer Ravi Rampaul, who is coming off a six-wicket haul in the game against Barbados.

The Trinidadians will be without prolific opening opener Lendl Simmons, who has been called to the West Indies squad for the fifth Test against England at the Queen's Park Oval in Port-of-Spain, which also starts today. They will look to the in-form pair of 20-year-old Daren Bravo and hard-hitting middle-order batsman Kieron Powell, who are both coming off centuries against Barbados, to lead their batting charge.

Two other games will start today in the Eastern Caribbean. Guyana will host Combined Campuses and Colleges at Bourda while the Windward Islands will travel to Barbados.