Romaine bowls wide to deny Cann century
St David’s, 181 for one, beat Bailey’s Bay, 177 all out, by nine wickets. (Points: St David’s 14, Bailey’s Bay 0).Lionel Cann was robbed of a second consecutive century as yesterday’s game at Lords finished in controversial fashion.Cann was unbeaten on 96, with two runs needed for victory, and given the evidence of the past eight balls Irving Romaine had sent in his direction the next would very likely have sailed to the boundary.Romaine didn’t let it get that far however, deliberately bowling the ball wide enough down the leg side that it went for four, ending the game and leaving Cann stranded just four runs short of his hundred.It was the second time in the over that Romaine had bowled the ball deliberately down the leg side, the first, which also went for four, came two balls earlier when the Bay bowler’s frustrations at his team’s poor performance finally got the better of him.Given that Romaine’s first two overs had been maidens, and his second went for 22 runs, with Cann hitting him for three sixes in the process, it is difficult to say that the ball slipped out of the bowler’s hand.The way the game finished might have had something to do with Romaine feeling Cann didn’t deserve a hundred, especially as the St David’s opener had been dropped twice, Once by Dennico Hollis on 21, and again, the ball before the first wide, by Ryan Steede when Cann was on 88.Whatever Romaine’s feelings on the subject, his actions at the end of the game could see him get suspended by Bermuda Cricket Board for a game or more. There is certainly precedent for such a punishment.Last year, India’s Suraj Randiv famously bowled a deliberate no-ball to deny Virender Sehwag his century in a one day international in Dambulla, and was handed a one-match ban by the Sri Lanka Cricket Board.Umpires Oscar Andrade and Richard Austin were unable after the game to say what might happen to Romaine, although their match reports are highly likely to mention the incident.It was a sorry end to a poor Bay performance that only lasted as long as it did because opener Terryn Fray stuck around long enough to make 43, and the tail wagged sufficiently to see Bay into three figures.Once again the St David’s spinners did the damage, with Del Hollis causing chaos at the top of the order, taking two wickets for 26 runs, and Sammy Robinson taking three for 34.At 92 for eight, Bay would have gladly taken 120 as a final total, but Dennis Pilgrim (40) launched into the St David’s bowlers with a relish not displayed by his team’s batsmen and put on 55 for the ninth wicket alongside Kyle Hodsoll.Hodsoll (21) and Burton Outerbridge (17 not out) then put on 30 runs in a last-stand that almost saw them take their side to the end of their innings. However, Hodsoll was bowled by Loren Marshall with 3.5 overs to go.Bay’s only joy in the field came when Fray caught opener Delyone Borden early on, after that though Fiqre Crockwell (51 not out) and Cann put on an unbeaten stand of 176 to win the game.