Lord’s (St David’s won the toss): St David’s beat Bailey’s Bay by 87 runs.

St David’s and Bailey’s Bay rehearsed for a potential Eastern Counties showdown as they met at Lord’s yesterday with the former prevailing in a convincing 87-run victory.

The success was in part down to the combined efforts of George O’Brien and Derrick Brangman who both had impressive all-round performances with bat and ball.

O’Brien took a wicket on the first and last ball of St David’s bowling innings in defence of a below-par score of 189 all out to see his team through.

Such was Bay’s demise that they lost a wicket in each of the first three overs without any contribution from the out batters as they were reeling at two runs for the loss of three wickets.

O’Brien, with his short, four-stride, medium-pace bowling and Brangman with his left-arm spin wrecked havoc on the Bay batters claiming four for 19 and three for 19 runs, respectively.

In addition, Bay batters did not help their own cause as the remaining three dismissals were by run outs.

St David’s won the toss and elected to bat. They lost an early wicket on 11 before Ajuan Lamb and OJ Pitcher helped to steady the ship with some sensible batting to put on a 32-run partnership before Pitcher was bowled by Kyle Hodsoll for 11.

Ricardo Brangman then joined opener Lamb and the two put on a 46-run partnership to carry the score to 89 before the latter was caught by captain Terryn Fray off the bowling of Shorye Tavares for 34 runs of 66 balls.

Brangman hung around as two quick wickets fell cheaply before being dismissed from a good catch by Ramesh Ramaiandaram off the bowling of Macquille Walker for a team high 39.

Brother and all-rounder Derrick Brangman made a useful contribution of 30 runs from 50 balls highlighted by a mighty six which shattered the rear window of a parked car on the outskirts of deep cow corner territory, before being adjudged leg before off the bowling of Jordan Burgess.

Tailender George O’Brien moved the score along briskly with some hard hitting as he smashed three maximums in his 26 from 18 balls before he was senselessly run out when the single was not on.

The score was now 189 for nine with the last out in similar fashion without adding to the score.

Walker and Burgess were the pick of the Bay bowlers with three wickets for 27 runs and three wickets for 38 runs respectively. Burgess had a spectacular dismissal of Loren Marshall from a diving return catch after following through on his run up.

St David’s were 189 all out from 47.1 overs setting Bay a target of 190 runs at 3.8 runs per over.

However, Bay endured a nightmare start and never recovered.

O’Brien trapped Tavares leg before on the first ball of the innings for a golden duck. Coolridge Durham joined Tavares in the pavilion immediately as he was run out on the second ball of the next over for nought.

Brandon Outerbridge would come and go within minutes as he ran himself out in the third over as Bay were bleeding at three wickets for only two runs.

Skipper Fray found a willing partner in Stephen Outerbridge and the two helped to settle the innings with some sensible batting.

They rotated strike regularly and stabilised the innings to frustrate St David’s, putting on a 56-run partnership to carry the score to 58 before the latter misjudged a slow one from Brangman and had his bails dislodged for 25 from 60 balls.

Fray hung around playing a skipper’s rule to dominate the strike but ran out of reliable partners before he was last out for 46 caught behind of the bowling of O’Brien.

Only two Bay players, Fray and Stephen Outerbridge, reached double figures with the next high contribution being 21 from extras. Six of the Bay batters had ducks in a match they would want to quickly forget.

O’Brien took the win in stride.

“We put in a good showing. I tried to push the runs with the bat in the situation we were in,” he said.

“In the bowling, I just looked to contain. I am trying to be a bit more creative in my bowling and mix it up a bit to keep the batter’s off balance.”

St David’s

A Lamb c Fray b Tavares 34

D Simons c Richardson b Burgess 2

OJ Pitcher b Hodsoll 13

Ricardo Brangman c Ramaiandaram b Walker 39

J Pitcher c & b Walker 3

K Fox c Richardson 2

D Brangman lbw Burgess 30

K Marshall c & b Burgess 10

G O’Brien run out Ramaiandaram 26

E Ball not out 7

C Outerbridge run out Durham 0

Extras (16 w, 1 nb, 1 b, 5 lb) 23

Total (47.1 overs) 189

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-43, 3-89, 4-103, 5-111, 6-118, 7-147, 8-155, 9-189, 10-189.

Bowling: Walker 9-0-27-3; Burgess 10-1-38-3; Hodsoll 9-0-40-1; Asgard 9-0-49-1; Tavares 10-1-23-1; Durham 1-0-6-0.

Bailey’s Bay

S Tavares lbw O’Brien 0

C Durham run out Lamb 0

B Outerbridge run out Fox 0

T Fray c R Brangman b O’Brien 46

S Outerbridge b D Brangman 25

R Ramainndaram lbw D Brangman 0

M Asgard b D Brangman 3

J Richardson b O’Brien 2

K Hodsoll run out J Pitcher 5

J Burgess lbw O’Brien 0

M Walker not out 0

Extras (17 w, 1 nb, 3 lb) 21

Total (37 overs) 102

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-2, 3-2, 4-58, 5-58, 6-68, 7-83, 8-94, 9-102, 10-102

Bowling: O’Brien 9-2-19-4; Outerbridge 10-3-30-0; Derrick Brangman 10-0-19-3 Justin Pitcher 7-0-23-0; Simons 10-0-8-0.

Umpires: E Carrington and D Smith