White Hill Field (Southampton Rangers won toss): Willow Cuts beat Southampton Rangers by eight wickets

Ras Solomon Burrows and guest player Dominic Sabir stood out in guiding Willow Cuts to Western Counties triumph with a resounding victory over Southampton Rangers on Saturday.

Burrows, the Cuts captain, led from the front with a run-a-ball 55 at the top of the order, while Sabir’s unbeaten 28 saw him and Antonio Darrell (40 not out) take coach Dexter Basden’s side over the line with more than 20 overs to spare.

Earlier on, Sabir, who was named the MVP, picked up four wickets for 19 runs in nine overs as Rangers folded for 147 in 45 overs after opting to take first strike.

Their total was bolstered by an unbeaten 73 from captain Dalin Richardson as well as 36 from guest player Derrick Brangman.

“This is a massive win for us, it brings the good spirit within the camp,’’ Burrows told The Royal Gazette.

“This shows our players that anything is possible and that we are the best in Western Counties.

“The journey has been wonderful. Going into the first game against Warwick, we selected a new team and getting a win gave us the confidence that we needed.

“It’s good to see Western Counties with a good number of spectators coming out in comparison to previous years.”

Commenting on his batting, the opening batter stated that he looked to take advantage of not-so-great bowling from Rangers.

“Seeing the total that Rangers posted, it was easy to calculate how much we needed,’’ the Cuts captain said.

It was easy to put away the bad balls, and I felt I capitalised on the bad balls very well.

“It’s good to lead from the front when you’re in a leadership position. I’m happy to show the whole team how to bat long and dominate another team.”

Burrows saluted guest players Sabir and Janeiro Tucker for standing out in the two matches. Tucker was awarded the MVP accolade after the win over Warwick in the previous round — an encounter that saw Sabir finish with an unbeaten on 56.

“It’s great to see that the selection of guest players was on point,’’ Burrows added.

“From the last game against Warwick, Janeiro got the MVP and for this match Dominic Sabir got the MVP. It shows that we did our homework when selecting guest players.”

Sabir was delighted to play his part in yet another victory for Cuts, a team he has represented in the Western Counties since last year.

“It definitely feels good to be used in the team for batting and bowling,’’ Sabir said.

“I came on late to bowl and I was able to contain them a little bit, and then lucky enough to take a couple of wickets right at the end.

“With the batting, I just came out there and kept my head down. My focus was to finish the game and not get out.

“Rangers had a couple of key players in the team. I know they would have hoped to do more.

“As Willow Cuts, we stuck to our plan and executed it well. We were able to remove guys that were deemed to be a problem.

“Last year, we lost to Somerset Bridge in the final, so it feels good to win it this year. This is my first time winning Western Counties. I played for Warwick in the past, but we never won it.

“It feels good to be able to mature, both with the bat and the ball. Being able to come out and execute all the time is always the goal.”

Rangers never got going after Kamal Bashir and Herbie Bascome struck early to leave them reeling at 29 for four in the eleventh over. The former got the big wicket of Dion Stovell, who was bowled for three.

Richardson and Brangman halted the slide with a 73-run partnership for the fifth wicket.

Once the latter departed in the 35th over, it was one-way traffic with the Rangers captain, in at No 4, running out of batting partners — including a sleepwalking Micah Wellman, who was mankaded by Janeiro Tucker when Rangers were already in deep trouble at 126 for six.

“Batting-wise and bowling-wise, we just had a bad start,’’ Richardson said.

“We just didn’t make enough runs. We were definitely expecting more than we actually got, our goal was 230 minimum.

“I would say Willow Cuts were better than us in regards to consistency. They kept their bowling tight, not too much bad balls.”

Brangman, who turned 37 on the day, was disheartened not to get a perfect birthday. The St David’s captain could get through only seven overs before limping off the field with a left hamstring injury.

“We lost it in the batting department; guys didn't put down their heads and bat,’’ he said.

“We could have done better with the bat. The wicket was a little tough, you had to dig it out. They bowled good areas and we just had to try battle it out.

“The heat got to me today; I was dehydrated.”