White Hill Field (Warwick won toss): Warwick beat Southampton Rangers by two wickets

Malachi Jones and guest player Delray Rawlins starred with ball and bat to help Warwick beat defending champions Southampton Rangers in the first round of the Western Counties.

In a low-scoring affair, Jones claimed six wickets for Warwick, who won the toss and put Rangers into bat.

After losing the first wicket on 18, Rangers captain Dalin Richardson joined opener Najiyah Raynor and the two would put on a team high, second-wicket partnership of 49 runs before the latter became the first of Jones’s wickets with the score on 67.

One of Rangers’ guest player, dangerman Dion Stovell, joined his captain in what was expected to be a healthy partnership with two experienced batters at the crease but the pair added only six runs before Richardson backed up to a slow one from left arm spinner Rawlins and was bowled for 23.

National player Derrick Brangman, the second of the two guest players allowed, then joined Stovell, but the partnership was again broken early when Stovell became Rawlins’s second victim when he edged one into wicketkeeper Ajani Lee’s gloves.

Brangman scored a patient 11 runs before Jones did well to hold on to a hard-driven return catch to dismiss him and leave Rangers reeling at 86 for five with all recognised batsmen in the pavilion.

Nacori Smith and Donte Brangman would become Jones’s second and third wicket in the same over as Rangers lost three wickets on 87 and they would eventually crawl on to 101 before Ryonde Swan was last man out when he skied one high in the air to be caught by captain Cory Burgess.

Jones and Rawlins did the damage as they bowled 17.2 overs unchanged between them with Jones finishing with six wickets for 18 runs and Rawlins two wickets for 16 as Rangers were skied all out in 32.2 overs.

In reply, Warwick openers Staphen Dill and Akeem Ible attacked from the start, with the former smashing Donte Brangman to the long off boundary three times in the first over. Dill dominated an opening partnership worth 22 runs before Derrick Brangman bowled Ible for five.

Dill and Jones would then muster a 15 run, second-wicket partnership before the former ran himself out for 18, which included four fours.

Rawlins joined Jones for a short period and the latter straight-drove Derrick Brangman for a maximum over long-off boundary before being bowled the very next ball for 15, including two sixes.

Captain Burgess joined Rawlins and the two settled the innings with a fifth-wicket partnership worth 32 runs. Rawlins dominated with 25 runs from 23 deliveries before driving one into the hands of Derrick Brangman at mid-off.

After Rawlins’s departure, Warwick needed 20 runs to win with five wickets remaining and the match turned int a nail-biter after Burgess was bowled by Stovell, Robert Richardson was bowled around his legs for one and Omari DeShields was bowled by Stovell for a duck leaving Warwick reeling at 89 for eight.

Ajani Lee and former Cup Match player Jamar Stovel held their nerve to see the team through into the next round with an unbroken 13-run partnership with two wickets in hand.

“We’re excited to go across the line as we knew this would be a difficult game,” said Warwick manager Lorenzo Tucker.

“Our bowling performance set this up with Malachi getting some of their top batsmen and he is one of the best all-rounders on the island.

“I was nervous as we lost four wickets and a run-out. It was tight right down to the end but my two youngsters pulled us through.”