JAMAICA senior men’s cricket coach Junior Bennett had high praise for Nikita Miller after his role in helping to defeat the Windward Islands in the Regional Four-day match at the National Cricket Stadium in Grenada.

Miller, the left-arm orthodox spinner, was the player of the match after ending with outstanding bowling figures of 9-46, and hitting a crucial first-innings score of 55, as the five-time reigning champions pulled out a 91-run win.

All-rounder David Bernard struck a patient 54 in a 104-run seventh-wicket stand with Miller — a partnership that many felt was the ultimate decider in the eventual outcome of the match.

Wrist-spinner Odean Brown was as influential as the other two, crippling the Windwards batting with a haul of 8-48 in the match that ended inside three days.

The four-day win marked their second in as many matches after opening with a comfortable win against Barbados in Bridgetown several weeks ago.

In the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Super50 match that followed days after, the spinning duo was again too good for the woeful Windwards batting line-up, as Jamaica won by 78 runs.

Jamaica, the Super50 title-holders, remain perfect with three wins in as many outings.

While highlighting the contribution of the trio, Bennett challenged the Jamaican batsmen to lift their output when he spoke to the Jamaica Observer upon arrival at the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday.

“Nikita Miller and Bernard batted really well in that first innings of the four-day game. Odean and Nikita then did the job in the bowling for us to win that match. In the one-day (Super50) match Danza (Hyatt) and (Nkrumah) Bonner batted well for us and all the bowlers came out and did well to dismiss the Windwards.

“Overall it was a good trip because we won both matches, but when you look at our batting, we are losing a cluster of wickets at some stages in the innings. It’s something we have to try to rectify and definitely one area we are looking to work on,” said Bennett.

The team returns to practice on Sunday ahead of next week’s visit of the Leeward Islands.

Bernard, an elegant batsman and effective seam bowler, acknowledged the importance of the partnership between him and Miller, particularly on a pitch that he deemed to be overly friendly to bowlers.

“It was a wicket that definitely would yield a result. Putting on a 100 (partnership) with Nikita was a good feat on that wicket. That was the partnership that really made the difference because both teams got bowled out for under 100 in the second innings. It was an important partnership and it was much needed at that stage.

“It was a slow (paced) wicket and it was difficult to time the ball (when batting) and the odd ball kept a bit low and as the game went on it got worse. From the first day it provided a lot of assistance for spin and seam (bowling),” Bernard explained.

Captain Tamar Lambert said he is “satisfied” that his “bowlers got the job done”. He urged the batsmen to match the display of the bowling unit — a unit that he believes will deliver “nine out of 10 times” once they have substantial runs on the board to defend.