St David’s Oval (Willow Cuts won toss): St. David’s beat Willow Cuts by 29 runs

Rain reduced this match to a 30 overs affair, but did not stop Derrick Brangman from leading the St David’s Warriors to a 29 run victory over Willow Cuts at St. David’s Oval yesterday.

Brangman top batted with a game high 31 not out and dominated a 41 run sixth-wicket partnership with veteran George O’Brien before becoming his team’s chief wicket-taker claiming three for 17 runs from his allotted six overs to complete a man of the match performance.

Willow Cuts sent St David’s into bat hoping to capitalise on a damp wicket. The plan initially worked as Dean Simons was back in the pavilion with the score on ten.

Things were looking really good two runs later when his replacement, OJ Pitcher edged and easy catch to third man only to be dropped with no runs to his tally.

Pitcher would take advantage of this lifeline as he was involved in two major partnerships, firstly with Ajuan Lambe for 36 runs and then Kameron Fox for 25 runs before he was courageously dismissed by a low, one-handed return catch to bowler Joseph Basden for 27 of 52 balls.

Brangman came to the wicket with St David’s in a spot of bother at 84 for five and would eventually partner O’Brien with the score at 97-6 and only 5.3 overs remaining before the two produced a team high, unbeaten sixth wicket 43 run partnership with some mature and exciting batting, including 17-run penultimate over as the hosts ended on 139 for 6.

Joseph Basden was the pick of the Cuts bowlers with figures of four for 16.

Having been set a target of 140 from 30 overs at 4.67 runs an over, Willow Cuts were under immediate threat losing wickets in the second and fifth over.

With Cuts falling behind the run rate, skipper Kwesi James went for a maximum and was caught at long on by Dean Simons for three leaving Cuts reeling at 17 for 3 after 10.2 overs.

Having lost his skipper cheaply, number three bat, Antonio Darrell batted with patience and maturity as he partnered with Basden for a team high 24 run partnership to help steady the ship before the latter was brilliantly caught by a diving O’Brien of the bowling of Brangman for 13.

With the run rate creeping over seven runs per over, Darrell tried his luck to push the score by going for a maximum only to sky one of Brangman’s slow ones to long on where Simons held on to the high catch after sprinting from the boundary. He scored 22 runs from 51 deliveries.

Late order batsman and wicketkeeper Shaquille Bean offered some resistance with some mature batting before edging one into the hands of his counter partner Ricardo Brangman for 21.

Cuts fell miserably short as they could only muster 109 runs in their allotted 30 overs losing nine wickets in the process.

Brangman completed his impressive bowling performance with figures of three for 17.

“I ‘m just trying to stay focus from last week. I think this is my fourth not out,” he said. “Bowling wise, I am a bit slower this year so I am just relying on more turn.

“We were in a spot of bother as I thought we should have gotten about 175 so I wanted to do my part in the team. It was a slow start as the wicket was sticky so I just tried to make the ball work for me.”

St David’s

A Lambe lbw J Basden 22

D Simons lbw M Simons 0

OJ Pitcher c and b J Basden 26

R Brangman c and b J Basden 1

K Fox lbw J Basden 10

*J Pitcher c and b M Simons 16

D Brangman not out 21

G O’Brien not out 16

Extras (b 8, lb 6, w 9, nb 2) 25

Total (6 wkts; 30 overs) 139

L Marshall, C Outerbridge and E Ball did not bat

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-46, 3-50, 4-75, 5-84, 6-97.

Bowling: Simons 6-0-40-2, James 6-1-15-0, Darrell 6-0-25-0, Gomes 2-0-13-0, C Basden 4-0-16-0, J Basden 6-0-16-4

Willow Cuts

R Burrows lbw C Outerbridge 1

M Simons c J Pitcher b O’Brien 0

A Darrell c Simons b Brangman 22

*K James c Simons b D Brangman 3

J Basden c O’Brien b D Brangman 13

S Raynor run out (Simons/R Brangman) 3

C Basden b Outerbridge 4

S Bean c R Brangman b Marshall 21

T Tankard not out 17

K Williams c R Brangman b Marshall 0

S Gomes not out 6

Extras: (5, lb 1, w13) 19

Total (9 wkts; 30 overs) 109

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-6, 3-17, 4-41, 5-48, 6-54, 7-77, 8-93, 9-94, 10-

Bowling: O’Brien 6-0-12-1, Outerbridge 6-1-20-2, D Brangman 6-1-17-3, OJ Pitcher 6-0-22-0, J Pitcher 3-0-22-0, Marshall 3-0-10-2.