Sea Breeze Oval (St George’s won the toss): Bailey’s Bay beat St George’s by six wickets

Bailey’s Bay forced St George’s to put their Premier Division 50 overs title celebrations on hold after handing them their second defeat of the season at Sea Breeze Oval yesterday.

While Clay Smith’s side, who have a bye when the action resumes after Cup Match, enjoy a 32-point advantage over second-place St David’s, their title rivals still have to play against Somerset, while their encounter against Willow Cuts, which was postponed at the start of the season, has not officially been forfeited.

With 19 extras given away by the Bay bowlers providing their highest score, St George’s were wiped out for 100 in 29.2 overs. Much of the damage with the ball was done by medium pace bowler Jahre Blakeney and veteran spinner Rodney Trott, who took seven wickets between them.

The target was never an issue for Gus Logie’s team, as they reached 105 for four in just 20.2 overs, with Coolidge Durham’s patient 54-ball 35 taking them over the line. Delray Rawlins, who had earlier picked up two wickets, launched two sixes on his way to an unbeaten 14 runs as he and Stephen Outerbridge sealed the win for Bay.

Smith pointed at the wicket and the absence of two key batters as the reasons for the defeat.

“We had one bad game for the season, the wicket was turning square and they had bowlers who could penetrate on the wicket,’’ Smith told The Royal Gazette.

“We were missing two of our top players, Oronde Bascome is overseas and Sinclair Smith is out with an injury, and our other batsmen just didn’t perform well today.

“Bay came prepared, they had a game yesterday where they won, so they were on a high, and they capitalised on that.

“We’ve always batted teams out of games the whole season. When we looked at the track it was very dry and we knew it would get worse as the day went on, so we tried to get the best out of the wicket.

“It was in our hands but now it’s out of our hands and we just have to see what happens. St David’s still have a chance of coming out on top, it’s just a matter of them getting a sufficient amount of bonus points.

“It’s a tall order but anything is possible as you get ten points for a win and then some bonus points. They would have to get six bonus points in both matches.

“They have Somerset and they also have a game against Willow Cuts that we don’t know if it’s going to be rescheduled, or what the situation is going to be. That match got cancelled at the beginning of the season.”

Onias Bascome, the St George’s captain, whose 17 runs were the highest for his team shared the same sentiments as his coach.

“It’s cricket and not every day is going to be your day,” Bascome said. “We thought it was a better wicket to bat on, but it was doing a lot.

“With the few injuries and couple of absences that we had, it was a difficult day. Oronde has been giving us good starts week in week out, so that was definitely a big miss.

“Whenever you have the best keeper on the island not available for you, that’s also huge. I feel like we’ve done the best that we can and St David’s have to play extremely well to catch us.”

Blakeney was the pick of the bowlers in his second appearance for Bay with four for 34 in 8.2 overs. The 19-year-old is part of the African Caribbean Engagement programme in Manchester, England.

“I got a lot of swing in the first couple of overs and later on I got the last wicket to end the St George’s innings,’’ he said.

“I thought it was going to be a lot tougher than that, but once I saw them struggle with their batting, I knew we were going to be chasing under 120.

“I like the feeling of winning but at the same time, it wasn’t just me. There were a few other players who chipped in as well, so I feel like it was a good day on the field.”

Trott did not expect his team-mates to put up such a great display a day after extending their reign as the Eastern County champions.

“I think it was an en excellent team effort especially coming from yesterday,’’ the 36-year-old said.

“We had a long day in the county game, so for guys to show up today and perform the way they did, it’s awesome.

“I know a lot of guys didn’t even want to come out for this match, so it’s a big effort for everybody that came to play.

“Credit to the bowlers, I think every bowler got a couple of wickets. Stephen Outerbridge and Coolidge Durham batted well, and then Delray finished off the game.

“The wicket was getting a bit of turn, so it was pretty good for the spin bowlers as Delray also took two wickets.

“St George’s have had a great season and beaten everyone this season. For us, I feel the second half has been really good, we haven’t lost a game in the second half of the season.

“At the beginning of the season we started off a little shaky because we didn’t have any players. At least we’re clicking at the right time, we still have a county game coming up, and guys are getting involved in Cup Match.”