Somerset set stage for promotion party
Somerset, 359-8, beat PHC, 103, by 256 runs.Jacobi Robinson smashed a 30-ball 85 and Jordan DeSilva and Shaquille Jones also scored half-centuries as Somerset all but clinched promotion to the Premier Division with a resounding victory at PHC Field on Sunday.Holding a 14-point lead over Western Stars at the top of the First Division going into Sunday’s penultimate round of matches, Somerset virtually guaranteed their promotion with their 10th win of the season. Robinson led the runs with his whirlwind 85 and was followed by 72 from DeSilva and 53 by Jones as Cal Waldron led the PHC bowling with three for 52 from nine overs.PHC could only manage 103 in reply as they were dismissed in just 25 overs with Charles Trott scoring 25 and Kyle Lightbourne 19. Kwasi James claimed four for 20 from five overs to lead the Somerset bowling.Western Stars, 321-8, beat St. George’s, 103, by 218 runs.Promotion chasing Western Stars also scored over 300 runs as they comfortably beat St. George’s at Wellington Oval to keep alive their hopes of automatic promotion.Both teams played with ten men as the home team called on a grandfather, son-in-law and grandson to make up the numbers after their ranks were depleted. Temiko Wilson smashed 13 fours and three sixes in a top knock of 120 for Stars while Nyon Steede scored 94 as the pair took the score from 48 to 242 in a third wicket stand. Steede hit four fours and a six in his knock while Dudley Campbell contributed 26 and Kanaz Tuzo 17.Former club captain Gregory Foggo joined son-in-law Neil Paynter, the club’s president, and Paynter’s son Nzari Paynter in the St. George’s line-up and didn’t just make up the numbers. Foggo led the St. George’s bowling with three for 62 from 10 overs while grandson Nzari, who just returned from captaining the Bermuda National Academy Under 13 team in England, took two for 45 and Mishael Paynter two for 66.St. George’s replied with 103 as Mishael Paynter top scored with 34 from seven fours while 14-year-old left-hander Zion Smith-Tucker, the nephew of Glenn Blakeney, hit two sixes and two fours in a knock of 30 before he was run out. Blakeney, still on crutches after his injury in Cup Match, watched from the sideline.Brian Hall had figures of three for 20 off six overs with three maidens to lead the Stars bowling while McLaren Lowe took two for 16 and Nyon Steede two for 33.The match between third-placed Flatts and Somerset Bridge was not played at St. David’s after Bridge showed up with an insufficient number of players. Flatts entered the weekend’s matches eight points behind Stars in the battle for the second spot which guarantees a playoff match with Cleveland for the second promotion spot.The final round of matches will be played on Sunday, with Somerset playing Flatts while Stars are away to PHC.