COOLIDGE, Antigua):

PARTICULAR focus on the monetary prize and not cricket itself was hinted as the reason Jamaica, the region's strongest team on paper, lost the inaugural Stanford 20/20 tournament in 2006.

Jamaica were eliminated by eventual winners Guyana in the quarter-finals of the previous tournament and in a press conference following Saturday night's last-ball semi-final victory over the same team, captain Christopher Gayle disclosed that emphasis on the prize and not the game led to their downfall.

Focus

"I looked at it last tournament and said ooh!, a million dollars and we eventually lost," said Gayle, "because we were looking at the million (US$1m) and not focusing on the game."

This time, he says: "We've learnt from our mistakes and now basically, it's just straight cricket."

He, however, expressed a little disappointment that the allocation of prize money does not include the losing semi-finalists.

"It's only sad that only the finalists get the money, rather than the other teams," Gayle said, noting that Guyana and Barbados, which both lost in two very close semi-final encounters, should have also been considered.

The champions pocket US$1 million (approx. J$71 million), while the runners-up walk awaywith US$500,000 (approx. J$35m).

Unlike in the preliminary and semi-finals where the Man of the Match received US$25,000, for the final, that person earns US$100,000 (approx. J$7.1m). The Play of the Day prize is US$25,000, while the cricket association of the winning coun-try will receive US$500,000, with US$250,000 going to the runners-up.

Saturday's semi-final went right down to the last ball and luckily for Jamaica, Marlon Samuels produced some fast off-breaks to hand his team an exciting one-run win over dethroned champions Guyana in semi-final two of the Stanford 20/20 tournament. Fast bowler Jerome Taylor, who conceded only five runs in his final over - the 19th of the innings when Guyana required 17 - also played a big hand as Guyana were restricted to 142 for eight, replying to Jamaica's 143 for seven.

Strangely, the match could have been tied because the players were not alert. With Guyana needing four runs for victory off the last ball, Daren Powell, on the boundary, fielded the ball and started celebrating with it in his hands. The batsmen had already crossed for one. Powell then whizzed the return to wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh Jr with the batsmen attempting a second run. Baugh caught the ball beside the stumps with the batsman short of his ground. But, instead of effecting a run out, he threw down the ball and ran off to celebrate with Samuels. Neither batsman went for the third run, which would have tied the scores and prompted a bowl-off to decide the finalist.

Gayle explained why he had gone for Taylor to bowl the penultimate over, instead of Samuels.

Getting close

"They (Guyana) were getting close to the runs, so I had to call on my strike bowler to get me a wicket and he did. We got the main batter out, Crandon (Royston), who was hitting the ball all over the place," he explained.

Earlier, Crandon and Christopher Barnwell (26), along with Crandon and Mahendra Nagamootoo (15), shared in two important partnerships, valued at 37 runs each, which rescued Guyana from 42 for five and threatened to take the game away from Jamaica. It was during this time, Gayle and Nikita Miller, who had one over for 16 runs, suffered as Guyana lowered the run rate considerably.

When Jamaica batted, they struggled to 43 for three with Gayle (4), Shawn Findlay (zero) and Marlon Samuels (26) all back in the pavilion. But in-form batsman Danza Hyatt (59) and Xavier Marshall (31) revived the innings with a 91-run fourth-wicket stand.

Towards the end, Lennox Cush returned to remove Hyatt, who had hit four sixes and a four, Wavell Hinds (zero) and Marshall with successive deliveries to complete the tournament's first hat-trick. He ended with 3-8 and collected the US$25,000 for the Man of the Match.

"Very, very tough game," was how Gayle described it. "We have to give Guyana credit. To bring it down to the last ball was tremendous for the spectators," he added.

Guyanese captain Sarwan said their batting let them down.

"If before the start of the match Jamaica promised us 143, we would have taken it," he said.