Somerset have earned promotion to the BCB 50 Overs Premier Division after a clear-cut win over Willow Cuts on Sunday.

In a match reduced to 36 overs to allow the pitch to be prepared after a prolonged spell of wet weather, Somerset captain Jordan DeSilva won the toss and put his opponents in to bat to take advantage of conditions.

DeSilva did not need to wait too long for a breakthrough with Greg Maybury picking up the wicket of Cuts skipper Antonio Darrell, who was caught by Isaiah Richardson for four with the score on 21.

Darrell’s fellow opener Dwight Basden looked well set in the twenties before he was bowled by Richardson, who was on a hat-trick after claiming the wicket of Kyle Brangman.

Kamal Bashir, who had come in at No 3, attempted to occupy one end as he scored 22 off 65 balls, but he found partners hard to come by with Chakote Basden (14), Deunte Darrell (10) and Dean Stephens (4) all out relatively cheaply.

Bashir was then caught by Greg Maybury off the bowling of DeSilva with the score at 81 for seven, with Shaquille Bean (3), Joseph Basden (6) and Sher-Maur Gomes (0) following him back to the pavilion as Cuts posted a score of 91 from their 36 overs.

Maybury and DeSilva were the pick of Somerset’s bowlers with three wickets apiece. Isaiah Richardson picked up two with Azar Morrissey and Janeiro Tucker grabbing one each.

Somerset’s run chase did not go entirely as planned early with opener Amari Ebbin trapped leg-before by Bashir for just two.

However, Matthew Watson and Alje Richardson dragged Somerset more than halfway to the required total with a partnership of 51 before Watson was bowled by Chakote Basden for nine.

That prompted a hairy couple of overs for Somerset with Richardson caught lbw by Stephens for 37 and Jermal Proctor falling the same way off the same bowler without troubling the scorer to leave the score at 59 for four.

With Dominic Sabir caught by wicketkeeper Bean off the bowling of Joseph Basden for ten, Cuts may have thought they had an outside chance of pulling off a shock win with the score at 68 for five.

Those hopes did not last long with Richardson hitting 21 off 19 balls. He put on 14 for the sixth wicket with JD Albertze, who was the last wicket to fall when becoming the final Stephens wicket.

Somerset passed Cuts’ total in the 20th over to confirm their position as First Division leaders with just one game to play.

Dean Stephens was the pick of the Cuts bowlers with three for 18, with Bashir, Chakote Basden and Joseph Basden taking one each.

In the other First Division match played on Saturday, Flatts made a successful trip to Devonshire Rec to beat the home side by eight wickets.

Openers Derwin Adams (23) and Gerald Simons (13) got Devonshire off to a good start and with solid support from Kentaro Bean to leave the score at 50 for two.

However, that was to be as good as it got for Devonshire, with their final eight wickets falling for just 29 runs, with only captain Drewonde Bascome getting into double figures as they posted a score of just 79.

Kevin Hurdle and Kijuan Franks both picked up three wickets for Flatts, with Paul Carr claiming two and Nelson Bascome mopping up the other.

It took Flatts just 10.2 overs to pass Rec’s total and for the loss of just two wickets. Detroy Smith hit 40 not out off just 27 balls, with JJ Nel scoring 17.