Malachi Jones refused to walk after being dismissed first ball in Southampton Rangers’ defeat by St David’s in the One Twenty20 Premier Division at Southampton Oval yesterday.

It was the second time this season Jones has had a controversial first-ball dismissal against St David’s, this time standing his ground after being given out by umpire James McKirdy to a catch by wicketkeeper Ajuan Lamb off Cejay Outerbridge.

Jones, who left the ground after his dismissal against St David’s in a 50-over match in May, held up the game for several minutes and had to be persuaded to leave the field by Ricky Brangman, the Rangers coach.

The incident echoed Derrick Brangman’s refusal to walk when he was given out during Bailey’s Bay league match against Western Stars at St John’s Field in June.

That match had to be abandoned, with Brangman handed a one-year ban for showing serious dissent at an umpire’s decision and bringing the game into disrepute. He has missed the Eastern Counties Cup and Cup Match this season.

Next ball Rangers suffered a further setback when captain Dion Stovell was caught by Ricky Foggo.

A third wicket went down in the next over when Tre Manders departed for five with only six runs on the board.

Opener Najiyah Raynor was bowled by George O’Brien in the fourth over to make it 20 for four before a stand of 44 between Ricardo Brangman and Charles Trott started the Rangers recovery.

Brangman was their top scorer with 38 from 19 balls with a five sixes and one four while Trott scored 26 from 28 balls, hitting five fours and a six.

After the stand was broken Rangers slumped again, losing their last five wickets for just 47 runs as O’Brien led the St David’s bowling with impressive figures of three for seven from 3.5 overs. Allan Douglas claimed two for 11 off four, Outerbridge two for 18 and Brian Hall two for 20.

St David’s reached their target off 16.5 overs with three wickets in hand. Captain Chris Douglas top scored with 34 from 47 balls. Loren Marshall, who added 39 for the second wicket with Douglas after Lamb was dismissed in the second over, was the next top scorer with 14.

Nirobi Mills claimed three for 21 and Tayo Smith two for 22 for St David’s.

Rangers hit back against St George’s to win their second match of day by eight wickets to stay in contention in the round-robin tournament.

Rangers looked somewhat disjointed as St George’s piled on 155 for nine after bringing up their first 50 in just four overs.

Captain Macai Simmons, coming in at No 8, led their batting with 49 not out while Lionel Cann posted 30.

Cann lost opening partner Detroy Smith to an easy return catch to Tayo Smith with 20 runs on the board. Mishael Paynter was run out over confusion about a second run after Charles Trott stopped the ball inside the cover boundary after Gerald Simons deflected Cann’s drive. Trott threw to the striker’s end with Paynter halfway down the crease looking for the second run with Cann standing at the bowler’s end.

Cann was dismissed in the seventh over to make it 63 for three before three more wickets went down for 23 runs, as Rangers fought back with Lamont Brangman taking wickets remove Cann, Treadwell Gibbons and Onias Bascome.

Brangman finished with three for 20 from three overs.

St George’s bowling lacked penetration as Rangers dug in to produce an impressive batting display, reaching their target with 4.5 overs remaining.

Jones lost opening partner Najiyah Raynor with 20 runs on the board before he and captain Dion Stovell added 76 for the second wicket.

Stovell finished with 63 not out from 40 balls, with seven fours and two sixes, while Jones was dismissed for 47 from 32 balls, hitting three fours and three sixes. Tre Manders scored 21 not out after sharing in an unbroken third-wicket stand of 36 with Stovell to secure the first win in the tournament for Rangers.

“We were better focused for the second game than the first,” Brangman, the Rangers coach, said. “We had an incident with the umpire giving out Malachi again and a lot of the guys feeling that they didn’t want to play.

“I had to tell them to keep playing but some of them were disheartened by that decision. We hung in there and tried our best, but it was unfortunate that we lost. We sat down and got our heads together and went back out against St George’s and batted well.

“Overall, I’m pleased with the season, the skipper has been doing a good job and the guys are rallying behind him.

“We want to win next weekend against PHC here [the Western Counties final] and Janeiro Tucker will be back. We want to get into the Champion of Champions and hope to win that one.”

Brangman plans to seek clarification from the Bermuda Cricket Board on the structure of the tournament, his understanding being that the Premier Division tournament will be a round robin, while the recently revised schedule shows two semi-finals and a final for the First Division tournament.

St David’s raced to Somerset Cricket Club for their second match against Somerset but the trip was in vain as the home team could only field six players, leaving them to default the match.