Heavy rain denied touring Australia a pre-series win against a Jamaica XI in their three-day fixture yesterday, less than a week before the first Digicel Test match.

Set a mere 96 runs to beat the home side at the Trelawny stadium, the Australians were coasting along at 65 for one when rain terminated the game at approximately 4:30 p.m. local time.

The World Champions had set themselves up for a win when their spinners Simon Katich and Stuart MacGill combined for seven wickets and stifled the Jamaica's second innings to 194 all out.

Australia had secured a 99-run first innings advantage on Saturday when they scored 396 all out in reply to Jamaica's first innings score of 297.

Resuming yesterday morning from their overnight second innings position of 11 without loss, the Jamaicans gave the tourists early success when the captain Brenton Parchment was dismissed for four.

Aiming for a place in the opening Test match at Sabina Park, the right-handed Parchment would not have helped his selection chances with a soft dismissal - stroking an easy return catch to left-arm pacer Mitchell Johnson with the score on 17 for one.

The 22-year-old Xavier Marshall joined Simon Jackson for a 46-run second-wicket partnership that ended when MacGill bowled Jackson (16) at 63 for two.

The leg-spinner soon dislodged Shawn Findlay (six) as well to reduce the home side to 69 for three.

Marshall played well for 31, including five boundaries, before falling to a disputed leg-before-wicket decision.

The young right-hander, who made his international debut as an 18-year-old against Australia in a one-day international match at Melbourne in January 2005, pushed forward to pacer Bret Lee and appeared to complain that he touched the ball as he was given out.

The all-rounder Lorenzo Ingram and Donovan Sinclair took the score from 77 for four to 100 at the lunch break without further loss.

Fast bowler Stuart Clark dislodged Sinclair (four) shortly after the resumption and although Carlton Baugh and Andre Russell resisted the touring side's push for victory, Katich sliced through the lower order.

Baugh, who stroked an unbeaten 111 in the first innings, lashed 36 off 38 balls with four boundaries before falling to Katich. He pulled the left-arm spinner to MacGill on the long-on boundary.

Katich also dislodged Russell for 25 and Nikita Miller for 13, to finish with handsome figures of four for 15 off 5.2 overs.

MacGill, more expensive after lunch, picked up three for 50 off 14 overs.

Chasing their sub-100 target, the Aussies batted just three overs before tea to reach 23 for one, losing Phil Jaques at the break for two, trapped lbw by Russell.

Katich advertised good batting form again with an unbeaten 37 to complement his 97 in the first innings, and with his captain Ricky Ponting (20 not out), was poised to steer Australia to a handsome win.

They were only 31 runs away from the target when rain intervened to abort their only warm-up fixture before the opening Test.