Chare Smith stroked a maiden top-flight half-century while captain Justin Pitcher claimed four wickets to guide St David’s to a 35-run win over Willow Cuts in the Premier Division Twenty20 competition at Lord’s yesterday.

Opener Smith batted throughout the innings to finish on 52 runs from 49 balls, including three fours and six as the home side posted 155 for four after electing to bat.

Ricardo Brangman, the wicketkeeper, made a significant contribution with the bat as he struck 45 from 30 balls with four sixes and a four.

Smith and Brangman shared in a 77-run second-wicket partnership after opener Sammy Robinson (17) retired hurt in the eighth over after pulling a hamstring to lay the foundation for St David’s’ total.

Seam bowler Micah Simons took three wickets for 17 runs to lead a wayward Cuts bowling attack that sent down 17 wides and two no balls.

Cuts struggled to build partnerships during their innings and lost wickets at regular intervals with seam bowler Pitcher inflicting the heaviest damage.

Pitcher made the initial breakthrough in the fifth over when he had opener Kwasi James caught in the covers.

Pitcher then claimed the wickets of Kamal Bashir, Sergio Raynor and Chakote Basden in the space of two runs to all but clinch his team’s second win of the season.

Derrick Brangman offered solid support with the ball for St David’s as he took two for 18 and also sent down a maiden with his slow left-arm.

Bashir led the Cuts resistance with 34 from 21 balls with three sixes and two fours.

Ras Solomon Burrows was next high man for the visiting side with 33 from 24 balls, which included six fours and a six, while fellow opener James stroked 17 from 18 and hit three fours.

“I thought we could have got more runs, but it was a pretty good score to defend,” Pitcher said.

“I thought we did fairly well in the field.

“I like having high standards and really believe we should have knocked them down for under 80 runs.

“It was a learning experience and we just have to come back in our next game and do better where we made mistakes and improve as each game goes on.”

Premier Division T20

Lord’s (St David’s won toss): St David’s won 35 runs

St David’s

D Simons lbw b Micah Simons 4

S Robinson retired hurt 17

C S Smith not out 52

Ricardo Brangman b Kwasi James 45

D L Brangman b Micah Simons 1

*Justin Pitcher b Micah Simons 10

B Hall not out 2

Extras (w 17, nb 2, b 1, lb 4) 24

Total (4 wkts; 20 overs) 155

A Paynter, C Outerbridge, †I Smith, O Smith did not bat

Fall of Wicket: 1-7, 2-125, 3-48, 126-3, 4-145

Bowling: Simons 4-1-17-3; Sher-Maur Gomes 4-0-32-0; James 4-0-26-1; Basden 4-0-46-0; Bashir 4-0-29-0

Willow Cuts

Ras Solomon Burrows c Brangman b Hall 33

K James c Dean Simons b Pitcher 17

†S B Bean c & b DL Brangman 5

K Bashir c Cejay Outerbridge b Pitcher 34

Joseph Basden lbw b Brangman 1

S Raynor lbw b J Pitcher 6

M Simons b Aaron Paynter 6

C B Basden lbw b Pitcher 0

A Darrell not out 2

Sher-Maur Gomes not out 0

B Spencer did not bat

Extras (w 10, nb 1, b 2, lb 3) 16

Total (8 wkts; 20 overs) 120

Fall of Wicket: 1-40, 2-62, 3-69, 4-79, 5-106, 6-107, 7-108, 8-120

Bowing: Caesar 2-0-23-0; Outerbridge 2-0-14-0; Pitcher 4-0-15-4; Hall 4-0-24-1; Brangman 4-1-18-2; Smith 3-0-17-0; Paynter 1-0-4-1

Umpires: S Douglas, M McCormack