Lord’s, St David’s (Cleveland won toss): Cleveland beat Flatts by four wickets

Cleveland County retained their Eastern Counties title in an entertaining affair at Lord’s on Saturday.

A century partnership between Dion Stovell, the Cleveland captain, and Jason Anderson rescued the cup holders from an early collapse before Clay Darrell finished the job with a brutal fireworks display.

Earlier, Treadwell Gibbons, the all-rounder, claimed three wickets while fellow seam bowler Bell and Isaiah Creighton, the leg spinner, took two each before Flatts declared just before tea.

“I have to give credit to the guys because they bowled and batted well,” said Stovell, who led Cleveland in the absence of regular captain Allan Douglas Jr, who is serving a two-game suspension.

“The guys fought hard, didn’t give up.

“We lapsed a little in the field but fought hard with the bat. I thought they got about 60 to 70 runs too many but at the end of the day we came out victorious.”

Despite coming up short, Wendell White, the Flatts coach, said there were plenty of positives for his players to take away from their performance.

“We lost but I am very proud of my team because they stuck to the plan,” White said. “People came here to see Flatts lie down and die but we didn’t and we are on our way up.”

Cleveland’s decision to send Flatts in to bat on a grassy track was a good one as the challengers found themselves in deep trouble at 87 for five in the 27th over before Logan Phillips led a lower-order fightback that gave his team’s bowlers a decent total of 197 to defend.

Phillips struck six sixes and a four in an unbeaten knock of 65. The mainstay of Flatts’s innings, he dominated useful partnerships with colt Lovintz Tota, Vernon Eve and Ryan Belboda as the challengers’s tail wagged.

Phillips, who rode his luck after being dropped on three occasions, reached his half-century minutes before the declaration was made at the end of the 60th over, blasting Hasan Durham, the left-arm spinner, down the ground for six before his team’s fans swarmed onto the pitch to congratulate and celebrate the milestone. Third-change bowler Gibbons led the Cleveland attack with three for 36 while Bell and Creighton each claimed two for 31.

Cleveland’s run chase got off to a poor start as Gibbons was bowled by Belboda playing across the line, Mishael Paynter failed to make his ground after being sent back and Phillips took a juggling catch at mid-on to dismiss Adrian Burrows for a duck.

That left the champions in a spot of bother at 16 for three in the seventh over and they were fortunate not to have been further pegged back when Temiko Wilson, the wicketkeeper, missed a stumping opportunity of off opposite number Anderson the very next over.

The missed chance ultimately proved costly as Anderson went on to stroke a fluent 72 from 91 balls, and added 110 runs for the fourth wicket with Stovell that took the sting out of the Flatts’s attack and placed Cleveland in the driver’s seat.

Anderson and Stovell batted sensibly, rotating the strike with some excellent running between the wicket and put away the bad balls with authority.

Anderson cut loose in the 26th over, smashing successive sixes off of Eve, the veteran left-arm spinner, to bring up Cleveland’s century.

He then reached a deserved half-century the very next over off 67 balls in 94 minutes after glancing Tota down to third man for a comfortable single.

The partnership was eventually snapped in the 30th over when Stovell drove into the hands of Creighton at mid-on off the bowling of Belboda. The Cleveland captain scored 45 from 67 balls.

Flatts picked up two wickets in the space of ten runs to keep the game interesting as Anderson went for one big hit to many and was caught at deep mid-wicket while Aaron Adams was held in the covers.

But any hopes Flatts had of making further inroads were dashed by the swashbuckling Darrell who put the challengers to the sword with some risky yet powerful stroke play.

Darrell made Flatts pay dearly for dropping him twice as he blasted a whirlwind innings of 49 from 38, that included the winning boundary off of Belboda.

Belboda was the pick of the Flatts’s bowling with two for 46.