St George’s clinched the automatic promotion spot on Sunday with a resounding 179-run victory over PHC at Wellington Oval.

St George’s, whose only loss in the league came on July 2 when PHC handed them a 51-run defeat at PHC Field, clinched promotion back to the One Premier Division in style, scoring 209 for nine, before taking just twelve overs to dismiss PHC for a paltry 30 runs.

The St George’s batting was again led by Onias Bascome whose 77 off five fours and two sixes helped lead a recovery after PHC had them reeling at 21 for four in the first ten overs, with Lionel Cann, Detroy Smith, Nzari Paynter and captain Macai Simmons all going cheaply. A fourth-wicket stand of 67 between Bascome and Dean Simons moved them on to 88 before Bascome and Mishael Paynter added a further 61 for the sixth wicket.

Paynter scored 28 before he was run out while Lorenzo Bean contributed 13 not out in the tail end. There were 42 extras given up by the PHC bowlers before twelve penalty runs were later applied by the umpires for a slow bowling rate.

Cory Burgess and Darren Anglin led the PHC bowling with two for 22 and two for 30 respectively. Burgess was then the only PHC batsman in double figures with twelve as new ball pair Detroy Smith and Macai Simmons ripped through the PHC batting, taking wickets on one, 11, 20, 22, 22, 22, 24, 24, 30, 30 and 30.

Five batsmen failed to score as Smith claimed four wickets for just seven runs off six overs, with three maidens, while Simmons claimed three for 20 from his six overs.

Ryan Steede, the St George’s coach praised the team’s performances this season, admitting that the hard work starts now as they prepare to return to the top division.

“I feel good that we won and got promoted, it’s good for the community,” Steede said afterwards. “That is one of the things I’m really proud of. This is my third year [as coach] and I’ve watched these guys grow a lot, they have improved tremendously.

“Every year they have gotten better and better and that’s the improvement I really wanted to see. With all the hard work they’ve done they are reaping the rewards now. This is the ending of one chapter and now a new chapter is coming up. The hard work starts now.

“I was looking at some of the BCB stats and it’s been an up and down last seven years for St George’s. The coaches and captain will sit down at the end of the season and decide what’s best going forward.”

St George’s were edged out by Somerset for automatic promotion last season and then lost to Cleveland in the playoff match. Simmons says being in the top division will be a tremendous boost to their programme next season.

“It feels good to be captain and win the league,” Simmons said. “We’ve put a lot of work in and the guys did the job at hand. We knew what this game meant and what was at stake.

“Our main goal is to survive in the Premier Division and then go for some silverware. The main objective is to be able to compete. It’s also good for Cup Match that we’re in the Premier Division now. This is for the community as well, we haven’t won anything for so long.”

Flatts, who trailed St George’s by 26 points going into Sunday’s penultimate round of matches, made certain of finishing in the playoff spot with PHC’s loss and their own seven wicket win over Devonshire Rec at Lord’s. Dajon Carey responded to his duck in the Eastern Counties the day before, by scoring 97 as Flatts chased down the 213 posted by Devonshire Rec.

Carey, who added 130 runs with Cofield Robinson for the second wicket after Regino Smith was dismissed with just three runs on the board, deserved a century but pulled a short delivery from spinner Dheeraj Singh in the air to square leg where Dapo Frederick moved to his left to take the catch. Carey hit 10 fours and a six as he and Robinson — dismissed first ball in the counties — showed the disciplined batting that was missing on Saturday.

Robinson, batting at No 3, scored 57 with seven boundaries before Rec fought back and made it close after taking three wickets for no runs as Flatts slumped to 193 for six. Captain Kijuan Franks was out injured with the side strain he picked up on Saturday.

Darnell Farrell scored a valuable 14 in the tail end before junior player Shane Robinson hit the winning run to finish on four not out. Singh claimed two for twelve from six overs to lead the Rec bowling.

Earlier, Chris Dailey led the Rec batting with 50 while Paul Carr scored 41, Hewvonnie Brown 32, Frederick 22 and Jodi Maronie 20.