Bailey’s Bay 236-7Cleveland 187Cleveland’s long wait to win the coveted Eastern Counties Cup will go on a bit longer after they fell 49 runs short of victory in this first round match at St. David’s on Saturday.Ultimately they were undone by Bailey ‘s Bay Stephen Outerbridge who scored an inspired 116, contributing almost than a half of his side’s total.Cleveland, who haven’t run the cup since 1981, were moving confidently towards their target of 237 off 48 overs during a partnership between Dion Stovell and Allan Douglas Jr that took them from 77 to four, within 100 runs of the target, when the fluke dismissal of Douglas ended the 67-run stand and changed the match.Douglas, who played some delightful straight drives and flicks off his toes to mid-wicket with strokeplay similar to his father, was putting fear into the Bay team during his 63 minutes at the crease which ended when he drove a delivery from Lateef Trott onto his foot before it rolled back onto his stumps. His top knock of 42 included five fours and two sixes and at 144 for five the game was firmly back in the balance.However, Cleveland still had Stovell, who has been scoring runs at will for Southampton Rangers all season, including a knock of 151 which enabled them to dethrone Willow Cuts in the Western Counties. Cleveland needed something similar from their guest player but when he was caught behind off the same bowler, Trott, 13 runs later, the challengers knew their task was getting tougher.Shakai Darrell, batting at number seven, carried their hopes with some confident shots during his knock of 25 from 29 balls but he was quickly running out of partners as Cleveland slumped from 144 four to five to 18 for nine between the 27th and 37th overs. Cleveland had one last hope in wicketkeeper Mishael Paynter, usually a top four batsman, who was batting at number 10 because of an injury. However, he managed just one before Kyle Hodsoll had him caught behind, the third catch for ‘keeper Sinclair Smith.The other main run scorers for Cleveland were number three and four bats Peter Philpott and Damali Bell with 38 (seven fours) and 20 respectively who rescued the team from 17 for two with a stand of 56 for the third wicket. Bay then hit back in successive overs from Rodney Trott and Lateef Trott to make it 77-4.Lateef Trott, one for 29 in his first, four-over spell, finished as Bay’s top bowler with four for 51 from 9.3 overs while Kyle Hodsoll and Rodney Trott had identical figures of two for 38.Outerbridge, voted man of the match, admitted the challengers gave Bay a scare.“Cleveland, you gave us a run for our money today, but the cream always rises to the top,” said Outerbridge as he addressed the teams and the crowd during the cup presentation.Afterwards, he added: “Cleveland always put up a very good fight and hopefully one day they will get over the rope, and I hope that day is when I’m retired. I thought it was a very good game of cricket. I don’t think they realised what type of position they were in. When Dion and ‘Dougie’ got to the wicket we knew it was about those two wickets and then the game would quieten down.“Dougie’ played fantastic — he always a class act — but today Lateef bowled well for us and I’m very happy with the outcome.”On a wicket of uneven bounce, Bay were kept to 236 from their 70 overs after being sent in to bat by Cleveland captain Dennis Musson.Bay were on 87 from 30 overs and then 130 off 50 before Outerbridge accelerated the scoring late in the innings during useful partnerships of 81 for the fifth wicket with Rodney Trott (41) and then 71 for the sixth wicket with colt Ryan Steede (17) which carried the score to 235 when both batsmen departed.Outerbridge was run out on the second last ball of the innings when he sacrificed a not-out trying for a second run that was never on as he attempted to keep the strike for the last ball. The captain’s century came from 182 balls and included 12 fours and two sixes. Opener Sinclair Smith scored 31 from 79 balls.“The wicket had something in it and it took a lot of patience to play that innings,” said the Bermuda captain.Dennis Musson took two for 29 and spinner Lavar Talbot two for 33 to lead the Cleveland bowling.Bay will meet St. David’s in the second round on August 17.