LORDS, St David’s (Southampton Rangers won toss) - Southampton Rangers 206-8, beat PHC, 190-9, by two wickets.Chaos and confusion reigned at St David’s yesterday as Southampton Rangers reclaimed their Belco Cup crown in an anti-climactic finish that did a disservice to the pulsating game that had gone before it.Umpires Stephen Douglas and Kent Gibbons brought an abrupt end to the final at 6.38pm with four overs left to bowl, and Rangers still nine runs short of the 191 runs they needed for victory.The reasoning behind the decision was that the cut-off time had been reached, PHC had failed to bowl their full compliment of overs, and so Rangers were awarded 24 penalty runs, six for each of the overs they didn’t receive. Certainly Jason Anderson and his side did themselves little favours in the eyes of the two umpires by bowling 14 overs in the first hour, 15 in the second, and only 10 in the third.That timing though failed to take into account the wickets that PHC had taken, or the time that was wasted by Rangers, who had two batsmen, Kwame Tucker and Kerry Tucker, retire hurt.However, confusion surrounded the decision because match referee Lester Harnett and third umpire Hector Watson, had decreed that five minutes should be added to the cut-off time to take these factors into account. Ironically, in a game sponsored by the Island’s power company, there was a disconnect between the two sets of officials and that message never reached the middle.What might have occurred in those last five minutes is anyone’s guess, but with Kamau Leverock due to bowl the next over at tail-ender Traddie Simpson, and with the injured Kerry Tucker Rangers’ last hope after that, the defending champions could still have pulled off another upset.In reality though Rangers would have likely completed a victory that should have been far simpler than they made it, and man of the match Janeiro Tucker, who finished unbeaten on 81, would have scored the winning runs.Last year Tucker scored 88 in a losing cause against PHC, this time he was not to be denied, and while his side collapsed around him, the veteran batsmen’s sheer force of will saw Rangers triumph for the seventh time in the competition’s history.He had some help along the way though, not least from Charles Symons, who dropped Janeiro Tucker off his own bowling in the 36 over, when Rangers were 139 for eight, and Tucker had yet to reach 50. The Rangers man responded to the good fortune by crashing Symons for consecutive sixes, and from that moment on the game which had ebbed and flowed, turned for good.PHC can have little complaint about the outcome, especially after a batting performance that saw them stumble through their 50 overs, eventually finishing on 190 for nine.Leverock (49) aside, none of the batsmen really made an impact on the game, and the fact that they got as close to 200 as they did had plenty to do with the 27 extras, including 19 wides, that Rangers bowled.Only once, when Leverock and Chris Foggo (29) were putting on 58 for the third wicket did PHC look like posting a respectable total.However, Leverock, who batted beautifully in both games over the weekend, threw his wicket away trying to pass 50 with a straight six, and Foggo followed soon after to leave PHC on 128 for five.Foggo’s wicket came from the first ball of the batting power play, when he slashed at a ball angled across him by Simpson and was caught at short third man by Jason Wade. Five overs later, PHC had managed to score just 16 runs, and had also lost the wicket of Kevin Tucker (10).With Janeiro Tucker (three for 37) and Dion Stovell (two for 33) keeping things tight, boundaries were at a premium, and PHC’s poor running between the wickets, evidenced by the run outs of Khiry Furbert and Keishon Wilson, meant they left at least 40 runs out on the field.Chasing 191 to win, at less than four an over, should have been child’s play for Rangers, but, as with last year, they very nearly found a way to lose a game it was far easier to win.They started off brightly enough, and although they lost Jaloni Albouy early, Dion Stovell (48) and Curtis Jackson (eight) put on 50 for the second wicket. Stovell followed soon after, but Janeiro Tucker and Shannon Rayner then put on 40, and at 120 for three Rangers were marching towards victory.Cal Waldron then dismissed Rayner and Jason Wade in consecutive balls, and that triggered a collapse that saw Symons finish with three for 33 and Rangers crumbled to 138 for eight.Unfortunately for Symons he will be remembered for the wicket that he didn’t take, and while Janeiro Tucker cut, pulled, and smacked his side towards their target, Simpson kept out everything PHC could throw at him, which, somewhat bizarrely only included one over from Leverock.The Bermuda international was poorly used by PHC skipper Jason Anderson, and while Keishon Wilson and Symons bowled 15 overs between them, Leverock got one, when the game was as good as over.What he might have done with his second, we will never know, and PHC can only wonder at what might have been. Rangers meanwhile are back after their year’s hiatus as Bermuda’s Belco Cup kings.