St. George's 138-3 Not wanting to exert his troublesome knee any more than he had to, Jason Lewis took the easiest route to his first half century for his new club, smashing nine boundaries in a knock of 53 to lead St. George's to an easy victory at Wellington Oval yesterday.

Lewis scored 46 of his 53 runs in boundaries from five sixes and four fours, reaching his 50 off just 41 balls as St. George's raced to an opening day victory in the Open competition in just under two hours.

Eugene Foggo (39) and Dean Minors (32) put on 56 for the first wicket in 62 minutes with Minors hitting two sixes and four fours before falling to a return catch to Janeiro Tucker.

That was to be the last of the victory hopes for newly promoted Rangers as Lewis carried on where Minors left off as he and Foggo added 70 for the second wicket with Foggo again content to play the supporting role.

Rangers used eight bowlers in a bid to defend their modest total with Keith Wainwright the most successful -- and expensive -- with his two for 32 from 4.5 overs.

Earlier, Rangers had to rely on stands of 29 for the last two wickets to lead them out of deep trouble at 79-8. Top batsman Michael Brangman shared in stubborn stands for the ninth and 10th wickets with Jason Raynor (10) and Gary Crofton (2) as he reached his half-century before being last out for 57.

Brangman hit nine fours in his top knock but there was little support from the top order with only opener Sheridan Ming (20) and number seven bat Lyndon Raynor (14) reaching double figures.

Raynor was the first of three consecutive run outs in the Rangers middle order as Darren Burchall and Dwayne Steede were dismissed in the same manner as the score went from 74-5 to 79-8 in quick time. Ryan Steede led the St. George's bowling with three for 29 off 7.4 overs.