Sea Breeze Oval (Flatts won toss): Cleveland drew with Flatts

Dropped catches and then a second rain delay ruined Flatts’ chances of dethroning champions Cleveland County in the first round of the Eastern Counties on Saturday at Sea Breeze Oval.

Closing out Cleveland’s innings at 3.52pm on 185 for nine, Flatts were set to begin their run chase after the tea break with an allotted 41 overs.

The target was about 60 runs more than it should have been after six dropped catches, including a one-handed effort by Kristof Von Tander that was put down at mid-off on the first ball Dennis Musson faced.

A wicket then would have made it 107 for eight, and though Damali Bell did depart just two runs later in the next over, the 33rd of the innings, Musson proved a major source of frustration for Flatts, playing a sensible captain’s innings of 27 in 63 minutes as two late stands took Cleveland to a respectable total.

First, Musson and Hasan Durham added 39 in 14 overs for the ninth wicket, before Durham justified his inclusion as a guest player with a valuable knock of 42 not out at No 10.

He added some late excitement as he batted for 77 minutes, faced 39 balls and hit a four and four sixes, all of which came in a dramatic last over from Dajon Carey that cost 25. The last-wicket stand with Mackih McGowan produced 37.

Clay Darrell and Dion Stovell added 25 and 21 valuable runs in the middle order, while open Adrian Burrows scored 30 off 55 balls.

Kijuan Franks claimed five for 40 off 15 overs, including trapping Darrell and Aaron Adams leg-before with successive balls.

Restricted to 105 for six, Cleveland were reeling at 109 for eight three overs later as Franks then removed Stovell, and Reggie Baker had Damali Bell stumped the next over.

However, a match that started almost two hours late because of heavy morning showers, had another critical stoppage when rain came again during the end of the Cleveland innings, which was also the tea break.

By the time Flatts’ innings started at 5.42pm their overs had been reduced from 41 to 24. However, there was no adjustment to the target as the match is not a limited overs game.

“We let the game go in the end with our fielding,” said Franks, who was later voted MVP, although it was not the prize he had hoped to receive during the post-game presentation.

“They got 50 or 60 too many runs and with the rain when we were going to bat, it just made it a monumental task to get 185 in 24 overs. And they still didn’t bowl their 24 overs.”

The match ended at the designated cut-off time of 7.20pm with three overs still to be bowled and Flatts more than 70 runs short of their target, after the required run rate rose to more than ten during the final ten overs.

“Six dropped catches and those last partnerships that shouldn’t have been partnerships,” he said. “Things like that cost us today. It’s disappointing.

“It’s always something, now we just have to buckle down, we have a game tomorrow and we need to go about capturing the [First Division] league.”

There was some controversy in Flatts’ team selection, with the omitted Temiko Wilson dropped on Thursday night and then recalled the next day. Wilson was brought back after some in the Flatts camp objected to the inclusion of Okera Bascome of St George’s, who was born inside the Flatts boundary but spends most of the time in England.

In the end Wilson played and Bascome did not.

Wilson seemed to have something to prove, too, scoring a brisk 32 off 33 balls with two fours and three sixes after coming in at No 3, following the departure of Ajuan Lamb in the second over with just two runs on the board.

Wilson, who plays in the Premier Division for Western Stars, scored 30 of the first 38 runs, as he added 30 for the second wicket with opener Reggie Baker. However, when he fell to a miss-hook off Bell’s and gave a catch at square leg to Steven Douglas Jr, Flatts had just 32 on the board after 11 overs.

Regino Smith was fourth out in the fourteenth over before a promising stand of 32 between Von Tander, who made 23, and Franks ended when Clay Darrell had Franks caught at cover by Curtis Jackson for 13, and then yorked Von Tander in his first over to make it 82 for six.

Cofield Robinson, captain of Flatts two years ago when they were dismissed for 57 by Cleveland, finished on 23 not out, but the Flatts challenge was already over by the time the umpires pulled the stumps.

Darrell finished with three for 15 from three overs, while Bell claimed two for 18 off eight.