Southampton Oval (Southampton won toss): Southampton beat St George’s by 320 runs

Only in biblical and fairytales does David overcome the behemoth Goliath, and St George’s could find neither the prayer nor magical genie to provide them with the necessary powers to defeat the home standing giant at Southampton Oval.

Indeed age would be served throughout what could only be very loosely referred to as a contest, as the young, inexperienced east-enders were at first put to the sword by the home side’s batsmen and later carved up by some venomous fast bowling from Kevin Tucker and the guile of Janeiro Tucker and Derek Brangman with their slower offerings.

The result was a record 320-run trouncing for St George’s, who no doubt cannot wait for the likes of Bascome brothers Anias and Oronde, as well as Christian and Zeko Burgess, to return from school. For now, they are what they are what they are and that is not very good.

Three batsmen scored half-centuries for Southampton, led by 93 from Alex Dore, who partnered with captain Dion Stovell, who scored 79, in a 185-run third-wicket partnership. Still, the real fireworks came late in the order from Shannon Raynor, who dashed the hopes and hearts of St George’s with an unmerciful bludgeoning at No?8, hammering nine fours and six sixes in a whirlwind knock of 85 from a mere 32 balls.

Such was the fruitlessness of St George’s bowling that none of their first five used claimed a wicket and even those that were later collected came at a premium.

Winning the toss and batting first, Rangers openers Maurice Lowe and Vernon Eve laboured on a good pitch, scratching out runs at the relatively pedestrian pace of near four runs an over, creeping to 64 when Eve retired in what appeared a tactical move to bring in a more fluent batsman.

Whatever the motive, the move worked as Dore took no prisoners as he picked up the scoring rate. The dismissal of Lowe actually hurt St George’s because it brought Stovell to the stage and, while he acted more as the foil for Dore, it was all misery to St George’s. Dore hit eight boundaries and four sixes in his innings, while Stovell stroked five fours and a single six.

Dore was eventually undone by his own aggression, failing to get to the pitch of a Hall ball and skying a return catch, while Stovell likewise became a Hall victim to throw Rangers into a mini-collapse, as they went from 254 for one to 264 for five and looked like they might not reach the 300 mark.

Enter Raynor and somehow 400 suddenly seemed within reach. He wasted little energy running between the wickets, instead slamming the ball into and over the boundary with regularity as he and Ian Armstrong, who scored 25, closed the innings with a 95-run sixth-wicket partnership.

However, if St George’s thought that they would find runs easy to come by on the true track, they found the truth largely absent, mostly because Kevin Tucker and Janeiro Tucker exposed it as a lie. The first, a left-arm fast bowler, had the east-end batsmen ducking and fending off balls on the back foot as he produced a fiery display of short-pitched bowling that resulted in four wickets.

“I think I could have done better,” a dissatisfied Tucker said. “Looking at the opposition today, the batting was mediocre, so I’m really looking at playing against better opposition to give myself a better gauge.

“The wicket today played lovely with good bounce and pace, and I was really able to trouble the batsmen.”

Macai Simmons, the captain, top scored for St George’s with 13, while Charles Marshall Jr was the only other batsman in double figures.

Stovell was satisfied with the result. “I thought it was a good way to start the league campaign,” he said. “We batted well and bowled even better, particularly Kevin and Janeiro, and we also fielded well.

“That was a really good knock by Alex Dore. He played a really good innings and then Shannon put us over the top.

“Obviously we have in mind the Belco Cup that we missed out on, so we’re really looking at the league as an opportunity to win some silverware.”