Legspinner Damion Jacobs' match haul of 12 for 157 and Jermaine Blackwood's twin half-centuries helped Jamaica beat Leeward Island in a thriller at Sabina Park on Monday. While Jacobs notched up his career-best bowling figures, Blackwood's scores of 81 and 70 put Jamaica in command.

All of that looked a long way off when Leeward Islands' bowlers Jeremiah Louis, Chaim Holder and Sheeno Berridge scythed through Jamaica's line-up after sending them in to bat. Apart from Blackwood, who made a 98-ball 81 laced with 10 fours and two sixes, the rest of the host batsmen did not cross 30. A total of 197 looked rather light but Leeward islands faltered badly in reply. They slid from 95 for 4 to 171 all out on the second day with Jacobs snapping up 7 for 74.

Blackwood's 70 and opener John Campbell's 55 led Jamaica's fightback in the second innings even as Berridge, playing his fifth first-class game, claimed his first five-wicket haul and finished with match figures of 9 for 105.

In pursuit of 262, Leeward Islands started strongly, as Montcin Hodge and Devon Thomas posted 45 and 52 respectively to take them to 144 for 4. But spinners Jacobs and Campell took control thereafter, taking nine wickets between them, to secure a hair-raising, 57-run victory.