Sea Breeze Oval (Somerset won toss): Somerset beat Bailey’s Bay by 51 runs

Dominic Sabir rattled through Bailey’s Bay’s top order to take five wickets and hand new Somerset league captain Alje Richardson a winning start.

Bay had been set a target of 222 to win but had only nine players available to bat after losing Chadwayne Johnson and Lorin Tannock to leg injuries while fielding, the former heading to hospital for treatment.

Openers Coolidge Durham and Samir Tavares appeared to lay the foundation for a comfortable run chase in an opening partnership of 71, with Tavares dispatching the ball to all corners of the field and beyond bringing up his fifty after only 11 overs.

However, he scored just one more run before Sabir struck for the first time and bowled him out for 51 after he had hit four fours and the equal amount of sixes.

Durham was content to hold up his end and pick his shots as he and Azendé Furbert continued to make inroads into the Somerset total. The two added 58 runs for the second wicket, which included Durham hustling through for a quick single off Greg Maybury to bring up a composed half-century, before he was out to a well-taken return catch by Sabir.

At the halfway mark, Bay were in control of their own destiny at 138 for two but that soon changed when Furbert became Sabir’s third wicket after driving one into the hands of Isaiah Richardson at mid-wicket for 24.

Captain Terryn Fray was joined in the middle by Rawlins, who became the surprise scalp of young Jermal Proctor after playing a lazy shot and was bowled for a duck, facing only two balls.

Despite the top three Bay batters mustering 144 runs between them, Somerset captain Richardson continued with his top two bowlers in Proctor and Sabir and that decision paid dividends when Sabir baited Fray to chase a slow one, only to mistime his stroke before being stumped by wicketkeeper Cofield Robinson for 14.

Bay were now struggling at 168 for six with only two available wickets in hand. Hodsoll went after edging to wicketkeeper Robinson off Proctor before Danavin McGlashin responded late to a call for a single and was run out for nought to end the Bay innings.

Sabir finished with five wickets for 34 runs with Proctor assisting with two for 33, much to the delight of new captain Richardson

“We came here with a mission,” Richardson said.

“We started off a bit rocky but we came back thanks to Alex [Dore], Cofield and myself to put up a reasonable total to defend. Dominic and Jermal bowled really well to keep us in the game but overall it was a team effort that gave us the result.”

The match had not started well for Somerset after choosing to bat as they were left reeling after losing two wickets to Bermuda captain Delray Rawlins’s left-arm spin in his first over with only five runs on the board.

Richardson and Alex Dore, the Bermuda Smash Invitational’s highest run scorer, stabilised the innings with a third-wicket partnership worth 87 runs, which was dominated by the captain.

He batted aggressively to carry the score to 92 before being caught off the bowling of Johnson for 56, which included six fours and three sixes. Johnson also claimed the wicket of Dominic Sabir (0) in his next over to keep the pressure on Somerset.

Dore batted patiently for his half-century before he misread right-arm spinner Tavares and was adjudged lbw for 53 with the score on 160. Tailender Robinson punched in with a useful 28 to carry the score over 200 before he was bowled by Kyle Hodsoll as Somerset were dismissed for a modest 221.

Rawlins was the pick of the Bay bowlers with four for 38 from his allotted ten overs and received helpful support from Johnson and Tavares with two wickets for 47 and 32 runs respectively.