Bermuda’s Under-19 cricket team was left to rue some wayward bowling as the Bermuda Cricket Board 50 Overs First decision got under way on Saturday.

The young side lost by just ten runs in their opening match against Willow Cuts but were guilty of bowling a staggering 33 wides among an extras total of 45, which was one more than Cuts’ top scorer Antonio Darrell contributed to his side’s final total of 164 off 36.1 overs.

With the match played at Somerset Cricket Club after being switched from the National Sports Centre, Cuts won the toss and elected to bat first, with Ras Solomon Burrows the first opener to fall for just eight runs when caught by Luke Horan off the bowling of Jermal Proctor.

Fellow opener, captain Darrell, then held the innings together while wickets tumbled around him, with Joseph Basden, Chakote Basden, Dwight Basden and Kemal Bashir all falling to add significant contributions.

Darrell found his most significant batting partner when wicketkeeper Shaquille Bean made his way to the crease at No. 7, with the pair adding 44 for the sixth wicket before Bean fell to another Horan catch, this time off the bowling of Jamie MacFarlane.

MacFarlane also claimed the wickets of the next three wickets, with Darrell caught by Luke Fulton on 44, Trenton Tankard bowled for ten and Sher-Maur Gomes out leg before without troubling the scorers.

MacFarlane’s brother, Callum, mopped up the final wicket of Kyle Brangman, who made a quickfire 22.

In response to Cuts’s 164, the first three batsmen for the under-19 team all made into double figures without going on to make big scores with Jermal Proctor, Omari DeShields and Sa-Qui Robinson out for 12, 13 and 14 respectively.

Horan was out for just three, leaving the young national side at 53 for 4, but that prompted the arrival of captain Zakao Hart, who top scored with 44.

He was ably assisted by Isaiah O’Brien, who made 28 off 21 balls as the national team started to make inroads into the Cuts total, but Darrell then halted their momentum by taking two wickets in an over.

O’Brien was first to go, caught by Tankard, before Fulton was bowled without troubling the scorers to leave the young side at 87 for 6.

Dionte Dowling fell in the next over for just one and it appeared as if the end was near but Callum MacFarlane and Hart then put on 53 for the eighth wicket before Bean took the catch to dismiss MacFarlane for 26.

With just two wickets left to play with, Hart attempted to farm the strike, adding three runs to the total before Cadenc Douglas was given out lbw off the bowling of Burrows to leave his side 144 for 9.

Hart then pulled his side within nine runs before he became his side’s final wicket when given out leg before to Darrrell.

As well as leading his side with the bat, Darrell took 4 for 40 with the ball, with Joseph Basden grabbing three wickets and Bashir picking up a brace.

The national team are using the league as preparation for the ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Americas Qualifiers, in Canada, in August.

In the other match, Somerset got their season off to a brilliant start with a thumping 214-run triumph over Devonshire Rec.

Somerset were bowled out for 275 runs in 35.5 overs and went on to wipe out Devonshire for 61 in 15.3 overs.

Janeiro Tucker top scored for Somerset with an unbeaten 74 runs off 62 deliveries, an innings that featured seven fours and two sixes. The second- highest contribution came from Jermal Proctor, who made 66 from 41 balls, which considsted of 10 fours and one six.

Lorenzo Simmons took four wickets for 69 runs in eight overs and Shaquille Pitcher took 3 for 43 in 6.5 overs.

Devonshire Rec never recovered from losing Tarik Jennings for a two-ball duck in the first over, with just two of their batsmen recording double-figure scores.

Kentaro Bean, in at number three, had the best contribution with the bat, scoring 14 and Simmons chipped in with 11.

Proctor did the damage with the ball for Somerset, finishing with six wickets for 17 runs in eights overs, two of his overs being maidens. Sheldon Ceasar and Tayo Smith had one wicket apiece.