Somerset Cricket Club (first day of two; St George’s won toss): Somerset, with two first-innings wickets in hand, are 76 runs behind St George’s

George O’Brien turned Cup Match on its head with his second six-wicket haul for St George’s in Cup Match that will leave holders Somerset and their supporters having to spend a restless night.

The burly St David’s bowler, who claimed six for 33 and five for 87 on his debut in 2005, tormented the Somerset batsmen to put St George’s in control of the first day of Cup Match, the hosts and champions responding to the St George’s total of 274 for seven declared with 198 for eight.

O’Brien ripped the heart out of their batting with six for 55 from 13 exhausting overs to justify the selectors’ decision to bring him back into the team.

Teenager Delray Rawlins, just 16, also had a memorable first day on his debut, stroking 55 not out off 58 balls, with seven fours and two sixes, becoming the 26th batsman to score a half-century on his debut and the youngest since Noel Gibbons at 15 in 1971 on the same ground. For good measure Rawlins, brought in as the second spinner, then claimed two for 44 from 11 overs of left-arm spin.

Rawlins even held a good catch at long leg off Malachi Jones’s mistimed hook 20 minutes from the scheduled close, which left the champions in serious trouble at 177 for eight, still 97 behind St George’s, with Jacobi Robinson, on 29, and Derrick Brangman, with nine, at the close.

St George’s were led by OJ Pitcher’s first century in Cup Match after two previous scores in the nineties.

This time there were no nervous nineties, as he brought up his hundred with successive fours off Greg Maybury — a flick down to long leg and then a crisp off drive for four. His 115 included 14 fours and five sixes.

There was to be little joy for Somerset after Janeiro Tucker held three catches by lunch, although he put down a difficult one-handed chance from Pitcher at slip when he was on 50. Robinson, also gave Pitcher a life, this time a far more presentable chance, when the St George’s batsman had made only 18 and was still feeling his way.

Tucker, the leading scorer in the history of Cup Match, would later depart for a first-ball duck amid a flurry of wickets that fell to O’Brien. Tre Manders, who like Tucker was a century-maker at Wellington Oval last year, was the only home batsman to distinguish himself. But when he reached 66, he inexplicably pulled a long hop from Rawlins straight to Lionel Cann at long-on.

Robinson, whose relative inactivity this season showed in an ineffectual stint with the ball, looked more at home with the bat, and he and a composed Brangman may take some shifting in the morning.

Oronde Bascome, the St George’s captain, is hoping to wrap up the last two wickets and then build on a first-innings lead.

“We have to get those last two wickets as quick as possible and with as little runs as possible to give us a better start when we go in to bat,” Bascome said.

“I think the wicket is going to get worse as the day goes on, so we have to give ourselves a great opportunity to win this game.

“We will come together tonight and talk as a team, analyse the day, how the wicket played and how we will play tomorrow.”

In the end, St George’s managed to get eight Somerset wickets without Bascome calling on nominally his frontline spinner, Rodney Trott. “We were picking up wickets consistently, so there was no reason to change the left-arm spinner [Rawlins] with Rodney and he understood,” Bascome said.

“OJ has gotten into the nineties twice and I’m just so pleased he went on to get a hundred; not just any 100 but an important 100 because we were in a bit of trouble. And Delray Rawlins is such a class act. Coming into this game, he had a lot of nerves, but he went out and showed the country what he can do.

“George O’Brien is a Cup Match player who always seems to rise to the occasion and that’s what you saw today.”

Jekon Edness, the Somerset captain, admits that his side are squarely on the back foot, but he has not given up hope of turning it around on the second day.

“We are under pressure, obviously,” he said. “It was not a good day by our standards and St George’s, to their credit, played well.

“We do not feel like we are going to lose. Yes. we had a few bad moments and it has cost us. But tomorrow is another day and we are looking to come back strong.”