The 2009 regional season is over and congratulations to Jamaica who walked away with three titles.

A few years ago, then president of the Jamaica Cricket Association and former brilliant West Indies wicketkeeper, Jackie Hendriks, said that his wish was that Jamaica would become the best team in the West Indies, and that Jamaica would consistently produce more West Indies players in a West Indies team than any other territory.

A few months ago, current president Paul Campbell echoed Hendriks' sentiments and, based on what has been happening in West Indies cricket in recent times (and definitely so this year), their wishes, their words, seem to have come true - or rather, appear to be coming true.

Dominating the team

Baugh and McMorris

For a few years now, Jamaicans, based on their numbers selected, have been dominating the West Indies team. One of their numbers is the captain of the team, and this year Jamaica retained the title in the four-day championship, and apart from winning the title in the girls Under-19 championship, they also retained the title in the Under-15 championship.

Remembering that other teams have enjoyed similar domination of the West Indies team for a while, that other teams have had back-to-back success in regional compe-titions, and that other teams have won the senior and one of the junior titles in the same year, Jamaica's success this year is nothing new in West Indies cricket and does not necessarily mean that Jamaica's wish has come true or that it is coming true.

It is, however, a wonderful achievement, something of which to be proud, and something which suggests that the words of Hendriks, and those of Campbell, may not be too far away from coming true.

What makes me happy, however, as far as Jamaica's cricket is concerned, is the performance of the youngsters, and especially so, that of the Under-15s.

The boys of today, it is said, are the men of tomorrow.

Poor performances

While the season was a success for Jamaica as a team in the senior championship, however, the West Indies, and especially so their selectors, must have been very disappointed with the individual performance - and none more so than that of Jamaica's batsmen.

Apart from Carlton Baugh Jr, who appeared late in the proceedings and played some match-saving innings, the batsmen averaged less than 35 runs per innings.

When it comes to scoring runs, batsmen Narsingh Deonarine, with 1,068 runs and two centuries, Runako Morton, with 1,010 runs, including two double centuries and one century, and Floyd Reifer, with 1,002 runs and three centuries, did well.

So, too, with 60, 56 and 52 wickets each, did bowlers Ryan Austin, Shane Shillingford and Odean Brown, not to mention Gavin Wallace with an innings best of eight for 20, Nikita Miller with eight for 41, Gavin Tonge with seven for 58, and Anthony Martin with seven for 81.

When it comes to averages, Baugh, with 60.50, Deonarine, with 59.33, Morton, with 56.11, Dale Richards, with 52.30, and 18-year-old Adrian Barath, who averaged 49.50 after scoring 990 runs with three centuries, all did well.

As good as those performances were, however, it should be remembered that in 1966 when there were fewer, much fewer than the 12 matches played this season, Easton McMorris scored 553 runs in four matches with three centuries at an average of 92.16.

In 1972, Maurice Foster scored 511 in four matches with three centuries at an average of 85.16, and, in 1973, Foster scored 522 runs in four matches with three centuries at an average of 104.00.

In 1975, Roy Fredericks scored 545 runs in four matches with one century at an average of 109.00, and, in 1984, Ralston Otto, a batsman who never even got near to a West Indies team, scored 572 runs in five matches with three centuries at an average of 81.71.

It should also be remembered that, in 1996, Rajindra Dhanraj, a right-arm leg-spinner from Trinidad and Tobago, took 48 wickets in six matches, including five in an innings on four occasions and 10 in a match two times, at 16.64 runs per wickets, and that in 1992, one Courtney Walsh, a fast bowler from Jamaica, took 36 wickets in five matches at an average of 11.30.

More work to do

Hendriks and Campbell

Congrats to Jamaica, to the schools, clubs and parishes, to their coaches and to their selectors, on a job well done.

For the wishes of Hendriks to become a reality, however, for Campbell's echo to come true, for the West Indies to once again rise to the top, their players, their batsmen, their bowlers, their fielders, and especially so their captains, like those from the other territories, have a lot of work to do.