Wellington Oval (St George’s won toss}: St George’s beat Bailey’s Bay by six wickets.

Bailey’s Bay’s grip on the Athene 50 overs Premier Division title became more tenuous after the defending champions crashed to a six-wicket defeat to St George’s at Wellington Oval on Sunday.

A destructive opening spell of pace bowling by Zeko Burgess, was rewarded with seven wickets, including five of the first six batters. Along with the early order, Burgess’s haul effectively ended Bay’s chances of retaining their title, with the champions now having just a single win from five matches.

“I’ve been working a lot on my form recently and today it came into play,” Burgess said of his performance.

“I’ve been concentrating on my line and length and it worked well today on this wicket. The wicket today had a nice sheen on it and even as it started out a little low, I was able to get a lot out of it.

“Today a lot of my success was due to my thinking free and clear while running in, knowing my line and lengths I had to hit.

“Playing against my former team, much respect to them, and knowing much of the players I was aware of what I needed to do.”

Entering the contest with the understanding that any result other than victory would all but eliminate them from contention Bay still began in careless fashion.

Sharye Tavares was out lbw playing the wrong line to Burgess’s second ball of the match and matters only became increasingly worse as the innings progressed.

Captain Terryn Fray (6) was next to go with the score just nine and the rot continued, with the rapid departures of Stephen Outerbridge (0), Jarryd Richardson (5) and Shaquille Outerbridge (0), leaving Bay in dire straits at 21 for five.

Zakao Hart came in at No 7 to help consolidate matters alongside Coolidge Durham (34), with the pair taking the score to 52 before the former was undone by off spinner Shakai Darrell.

Durham would eventually be ninth out, as the visitors were dismissed for just 106.

Darrell took two for 12 in support of Burgess, while Abdul Salam claimed one scalp.

Set 107 to win, Oronde Bascome continued a fine run of form at the top of the order for St George’s, scoring an efficient, unbeaten 43 in anchoring the home team’s chase.

Bascome was the a main protagonist in partnerships of 21 for the first and second wickets with Q’Shai Darrell (5) and Jonte Smith (9), before he and brother Onias Bascome (25) upped the ante during a third-wicket stand that produced 33 runs in the space of 18 balls.

Onias Bascome entertained with a 16-ball cameo that featured a steady stream of pulls to mid-wicket that resulted in three fours and two sixes, before an attempted clip over deep square leg fell short of the mark and into the clutches of Outerbridge.

After Macai Simmons (0) fell while attempting an ill-advised swipe of Tavares, Salam and Bascome eased the home side across the line at 4pm, having needed a mere 12.3 overs to reach their total.

The result allowed St George’s to join St David’s at the top of the Premier Division, while Bay remain among the league’s lower reaches, having lost four of their first five matches.

“All we can do is take care of our own destiny, so whatever is in front of us we have to handle it,” said St George’s coach Clay Smith after the match.

“For the most part I was satisfied with our performance today. Zeko led from the front and Oronde lead from the back.

“I thought it was a fair performance. There remains room for improvement as I thought we lost too many wickets chasing but that’s all part of the game.”