Rodney Trott, the Bailey’s Bay captain, was carried off the field on his team-mates’ shoulders after his side dethroned St David’s in the first round of the Eastern Counties yesterday.

Bay’s players, coaches and supporters transformed Lord’s, for so long an impenetrable fortress, into a sea of red as they wildly celebrated their 61-run win.

Chasing 223 for victory, St David’s were unable to build partnerships against a disciplined Bay attack led by colt Derrick Brangman, who claimed six wickets for 40 runs with his slow left arm.

While it was Brangman who starred with the ball, it was Stephen Outerbridge who provided the backbone to Bay’s innings with a classy 81 with his easy-on-the-eye batting style at No 5.

There were worrying scenes during the Bay innings, however, as OJ Pitcher, the St David’s and Bermuda captain, collapsed on the field with chest pains during the last over before lunch and was subsequently taken to hospital.

Pitcher was not deemed fit enough to return to the fray, with St David’s all-rounder Delyone Borden admitting that watching his team-mate being taken off on a stretcher put his side’s defeat into perspective.

“I talked to the medic and he said that OJ started doing better on the way to the hospital,” Borden said. “They said they would have to keep him at hospital to run some tests because he went down with his chest on the last ball of my over.

“He was a big miss, too, because OJ would have been able to bat and we only had ten men.”

Irving Romaine, the Bay coach, said he hoped that Pitcher, his former Bermuda team-mate, was given a clean bill of health.

“I hope he’s 100 per cent fine and back playing cricket soon,” Romaine said. “His health is a lot more important than our victory.”

Romaine, who contemplated returning to the fold, said his team would be “partying for the next three weeks” after beating a formidable St David’s team in their own backyard. He also praised his team’s bowling attack for picking up important wickets at regular intervals.

“We just won Eastern Counties, the biggest thing you can win outside Cup Match, and it means so much for the whole community,” Romaine said.

“County is traditionally won with smaller totals and we didn’t want to put too big a total on the board in case [St David’s] shut up shop. We wanted them to go out thinking they could win outright and that caused them to play some of the shots they got out to. There was only half an hour of the game left [when Bay took the final wicket] and St David’s just needed one big stand but they couldn’t do it.”

Terryn Fray and Sinclair Smith laid solid foundations for Bay, putting on 56 for the first wicket, but it was Outerbridge’s innings which was the cornerstone to their triumph.

The left-hander came to the crease with the score 74 for three, guiding his side to 191 before holing out to CJ Pitcher off the bowling of Justin Pitcher, who took four for 32.

“That was a big innings,” Romaine said. “We knew if one of our top six got a big score we would win the game. All season we have struggled for runs.”

Outerbridge said that Eastern Counties meant more than any other competition for Bay and revealed that the team planned to carry the trophy back to Sea Breeze Oval on foot.

“To come here as a serious underdog and play so well is a great feeling,” Outerbridge said. “I thought we performed out of this world!

“I grew up watching the likes of Noel Gibbons, Ricky Hill and Charlie Marshall playing county. I remember watching Clarkey Trott and those guys walking the cup straight out of St David’s and we’re going to do that tonight — that’s what it means to us. We’ll walk to Bay.”

After a few inconsistent seasons with the bat, Outerbridge feels he reminded the local cricket community of his stroke-playing prowess as the “best batsman on the island”.

He said: “The last three years I’ve had a lot of responsibilities but three or four weeks ago I decided I was going to prove to everybody that I’m the best batsman on this island. I’m going to keep on doing it.”

St David’s, who beat Bay in the final round last season at Sea Breeze Oval, struggled after the departures of openers Borden and Shannon Raynor.

It was remarkable one-handed diving catch by Kyle Hodsoll off the bowling of Brangman which accounted for Raynor’s demise, with wickets falling quickly and cheaply as St David’s were bowled out for 162. Justin Pitcher was the only batsman to offer any real resistance, scoring 42 not out.

Even without OJ Pitcher, their frontline batsman, St David’s boasted a fearsome middle order, but none of Chris Douglas, Chris Foggo, Macai Simmons and Lionel Cann — controversially run out after being bowled off a no-ball — were able to offer the same command and calming presence as Outerbridge at the crease.