Wellington Oval (final day of two; St George’s won toss): Somerset beat St George’s by ten wickets

St George’s avoided an innings defeat by the narrowest of margins, but they could not prevent Somerset from wrapping up another convincing Cup Match victory yesterday.

In the end even the rain-affected first day could not prevent a result with Somerset winning with more than an hour to spare after St George’s could manage only 130 in their second innings, the same margin by which Somerset led on first innings, meaning the cup holders needed to score just one run in their second innings to seal the win.

Even that, however, wasn’t straightforward, when opener Kamau Leverock lofted a ball from George O’Brien to long-off. It stopped inside the boundary near the scorer’s box. As the Somerset players and fans started to run on to the field to celebrate, Somerset supporter Ronue Cann thought he was doing a good deed by picking up the ball and throwing it back to the crease.

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However, Leverock and non-striker Alje Richardson had not crossed for the regulation single that would have won the game, leaving the umpires to call a dead ball, although by that time the stumps had already been removed by excited fans. Several minutes were lost while they were put back in place and the field cleared.

With two balls remaining of the over, Leverock scored the single that settled the result, handing St George’s a resounding defeat. This was Somerset’s fifth victory since winning back the cup in 2012.

Even without the on-field leadership of captain Jordan DeSilva for much of the match, because of illness and injury coming into the match, Somerset still proved too strong for the challengers. Vice-captain Terryn Fray led Somerset on the field for periods in the St George’s first innings and then for the entirety of their second innings when they struggled to erase the deficit.

A four from George O’Brien on the penultimate over of the St George’s innings tied the scores before colt Isaiah Greaves was trapped leg-before by Derrick Brangman on the third ball of the next over to end the innings with the aggregate scores tied.

“We knew Jordan was nursing an illness, with asthma, a cold and a foot injury coming into the game, so I knew it was a good chance I would probably have to take over as captain at some point,” Fray said. “I was prepared.

“I captain Bailey’s Bay so it is nothing new to me, and sometimes captaining these guys is easy. They bowl well most of the time, so it was just about putting guys in the right positions and switching the bowlers at the right time. I think I did that pretty well.”

Fray was involved in some controversy himself in the Somerset innings on Thursday when he was caught at mid-on by colt Jamar Stovel in the second over of the innings from Justin Pitcher.

Fray walked off the field and just before reaching the boundary was sent back by his coaches after it was learnt that a bandage had fallen off Pitcher’s hand at the point of delivery, distracting the batsman.

“It should have been called a dead ball, I never left the field of play, as the coaches told me to go back and contest it,” he explained. “That’s the reason I went back, I didn’t mean to cause any disruption to anybody.

“The coaches gave me the full support to go back and ask why was I given out, that it should have been a dead ball. He [Pitcher] had something on his arm, like tape, and in his delivery it came off.

“I’m not disputing that I hit the catch – I did – but I did see the ball and the tape at the same time. I asked when it first happened, but didn’t want to stay out there and make a scene so I walked, but when I was told to go back to the middle and contest it, I did.”

The incident did threaten to escalate as Somerset players came on to the field, as well as some Somerset fans, before security helped restore calm.

“I didn’t think St George’s would react how they did to me asking a question, but it is what it is,” added Fray, who was manhandled by some St George’s players as tempers frayed. “It is not in my character and it went bigger than what it should have been.”

Chris Douglas was the batting hero for Somerset with a maiden Cup Match century, 128 off 136 balls with 13 fours and seven sixes, as Somerset replied to the 151 for eight declared by St George’s with 281, a lead of 130.

They were 139 for one overnight with Douglas left on 98 not out after a rain-affected first day saw three stoppages and a late start to play by 33 minutes. Douglas completed the hundred with the first ball of the second day from spinner Rodney Trott, which he steered to third man for two runs.

Alje Richardson was the next high man for Somerset with 42 from 76 balls at No 4 while Manders added 38 off 98 balls. The Somerset innings ended at 12.13pm yesterday, with George O’Brien taking five for 60 and Trott three for 50 as Somerset slumped from 202 for three, when Douglas was dismissed, to 281 all out.

The St George’s declaration at 3.18pm was just as much about the valuable time that was lost as it was about the belief that there might be something in the wicket to assist their bowlers.

Oronde Bascome, who has now had three scores in the forties, led the St George’s batting with 42 in128 minutes, hitting four fours and a six. He shared in an opening stand of 37 with Temiko Wilson (16) as St George’s had a promising start, only to be pegged back when Somerset claimed five wickets for 33 runs as they slumped from 100 for three to 133 for seven.

Malachi Jones claimed his 50th Cup Match wicket, taking three for 37 while Kamau Leverock also took three for 37.

In the St George’s second innings, Detroy Smith added 41 to his first-innings 20, facing 105 balls before he was sixth out on 105, still 25 runs behind.

Jones picked up three more wickets in the second innings, giving up 24 runs off 13 overs, while Dion Stovell took three for 41 and opener Leverock two for 23. Oronde Bascome (29) and Wilson (22) put on 44 for the first wicket before losing three wickets for 21 runs as key batsmen Allan Douglas and captain Onias Bascome were dismissed for ducks.

Douglas faced three balls before being caught by Tre Manders in the covers off Derrick Brangman, while Bascome was out first ball, flicking a ball from Leverock to deep square leg where Stovell held the catch.

Bascome was disappointed to lose his first match as captain. “The players fought hard, they put in the work, was up for it but the result didn’t go our way,” he said.

“We have to take the positives out of the game and build on those positives. We have to turn those forties into hundreds.”

The team fought hard to pass 130 which would make Somerset bat again. “The main thing was to get across that line, but we always knew that was a long stretch with us losing wickets,” the captain stated.

“Detroy probably had a lot of doubters but he came out and showed why we picked him. He showed that he’s got the fight, the heart and the will to play for St George’s, to do what it takes for the team and I appreciate that from him.“

SCOREBOARD

St George’s: First Innings

T Wilson c Richardson b Leverock 16

Oronde Bascome c Richardson b Jones 42

R Trott b Maybury 1

*Onias Bascome c Leverock b Stovell 40

D Smith b Leverock 20

A Douglas b Leverock 4

†S Smith not out 15

J Pitcher lbw b Jones 0

G O’Brien b Jones 2

J Stovel not out 0

Extras (b 8, nb 3) 11

Total (8 wkts dec; 41 overs) 151

I Greaves did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-42, 3-100, 4-127, 5-131, 6-132, 7-133, 8-145.

Bowling: Jones 9-1-37-3; Maybury 5-2-25-1; Leverock 13-1-37-3; Brangman 7-1-21-0; Stovell 7-1-23-1.

Somerset: First Innings

C Douglas c Oronde Bascome b Stovel 128

T Fray c Stovell b Pitcher 4

T Manders c Wilson b Trott 38

A Richardson b O’Brien 42

D Stovell c Smith b O’Brien 13

K Leverock c Douglas b O’Brien 7

†S Bremar c and b Trott 14

M Jones lbw b Trott 6

*J DeSilva not out 10

M Brangman lbw b O’Brien 2

P Maybury b O’Brien 5

Extras (b 4, lb 4, nb 4) 12

Total (75.5 overs) 281

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-150, 3-202, 4-226, 5-241, 6-244, 7-263, 8-268, 9-273.

Bowling: O’Brien 18.5-6-60-5; Pitcher 4-0-15-1; Trott 21-2-50-3; Greaves 4-0-26-0; Douglas 10-2-37-0; Stovel 5-1-30-1; Onias Bascome 12-1-45-0; Smith 1-1-0-0.

St George’s: Second Innings

T Wilson b Stovell 22

Oronde Bascome c sub b Stovell 29

A Douglas c Manders b Brangman 0

D Smith c Brangman b Stovell 41

*Onias Bascome c Stovell b Leverock 0

R Trott c Bremar b Jones 4

†S Smith c Maybury b Jones 4

J Pitcher c sub b Jones 12

J Stovel b Leverock 5

G O’Brien not out 6

I Greaves lbw b Brangman 1

Extras (b 5, nb 1) 6

Total (59.3 overs) 130

Fall of wickets: Brangman 15.3-4-25-1; Leverock 9-2-23-2; Jones 13-3-24-3; Maybury 7-0-13-0; Stovell 15-3-41-3.

Somerset: Second Innings

K Leverock not out 1

A Richardson not out 0

Extras 0

Total (0 wkt, 0.5 overs) 1

Bowling: O’Brien 0.5-0-1-0.

Umpires: E Carrington and A Knight.

Third umpire: M Best.

Fourth umpire: S Caines.

Match referee: R Dill.

Video: Kyle McNeil