White Hill Field (Somerset won toss): Bailey’s Bay beat Somerset by two wickets

Bailey’s Bay kept their unbeaten season alive after a thrilling win in the BCB Knockout Cup semi-final over Somerset with one ball to spare.

Left-handed batsmen Stephen Outerbridge and Delray Rawlins punished Somerset for sloppy fielding to guide Bay into the final against Cleveland County, a team they beat to the BCB 50 Overs Premier Division title last month.

Outerbridge was dropped twice on his way to top scoring with an unbeaten 73 off 99 deliveries and scored the winning run for Bay to spark scenes of celebration. Rawlins, also put down before reaching his half century, contributed a vital 57 to his team’s cause, which ensured they reached their target of 209 in 49.5 overs.

An unlikely match winner, Outerbridge was not meant to play after being dropped from the team last week, but the absence of skipper Terryn Fray, who was away celebrating his birthday, opened the door for him to excel.

“It’s been a tough season for myself personally,” Outerbridge said. “I came back with some fortunate luck as the captain was away, so space opened up and if you want to be a top player you have got to bat to win games like this.”

Outerbridge put his match-winning knock down to hard work.

“I am up at three in the morning, sometimes running while these guys are sleeping, so luck favours the brave,” he said. “I put my work in so there are no mistakes.”

Hodsoll, the Bay captain on the day, attributed the win to a focus on preparing well.

“We made it hard for ourselves but we put ourselves in these positions and have to get ourselves out of them,’’ Hodsoll said.

“I wouldn't say it was luck. The guys are training four, five teams a week in the nets and doing game scenario. Once we needed 18 in 12 balls, that's something we train for on a regular basis. We trained hard for it.

“This is another trophy for us to try and achieve and that's what we planned out to do, to win as many trophies as possible this season.”

Janeiro Tucker, the Somerset player-coach, fought hard with ball in hand to bring his team back into the contest with three wickets, but felt his side’s fielding errors were the reason for the defeat.

“It was a good game and I thought we batted well, put on a good total,’’ said the 48-year-old.

”As you see, we dropped our catches, which were important catches, so that changed the game a bit but I still thought we should have won. Up until the last over, we could have won the game, so to lose one like this is hard.“

Somerset never got going after winning the toss and opting to bat first, struggling to put early runs on the board. Captain Jordan DeSilva top scored with 34 runs and JD Albertze was next best with 33.

Michael Agard and Rodney Trott, with three wickets each, did a great job of restricting Somerset, with Kyle Hodsoll chipping in with two for 29.

Bailey also struggled in their run chase with openers Jarryd Richardson and Coolidge Durham falling in the first ten overs. Rawlins, batting in some discomfort, rotated the strike well but was given a reprieve when he was dropped on 32 runs by DeSilva at square leg off the bowling of Dominic Sabir. Rawlins would go on to add 25 more runs after that missed chance before he was dismissed.

Somerset could have wrapped up the match when Outerbridge, on 58, sent a DeSilva delivery into the deep only for Greg Maybury to let him off the hook and the batsman continued to reduce the deficit in a partnership with Jordan Burgess.

Bay needed 19 runs in the final two overs to the win. Outerbridge, on 62, was put down again on the last ball of the penultimate over, with Sabir the culprit off Maybury’s bowling as Bay left themselves needing eight in the final over off DeSilva.

Burgess, who had looked jittery at the crease, hammered a huge six off the first delivery and took a single off the third before Outerbridge finished things off with a single.