Lord’s (St George’s won the toss): St David’s beat St George’s by four wickets

Usual team-mates Onias Bascome and Jonté Smith notched up half-centuries for opposite sides in the penultimate Cup Match trial for St George’s on Saturday.

With the Turkey Barnes Trophy at stake, Bascome hit an 81-ball 90 after coming in at No 7 to take St George’s to 238 all out in 56.3 overs. The St George’s captain showed no mercy to the bowlers, with his innings containing seven fours and six sixes.

Smith, playing for St David’s, his team in the Eastern Counties Cup, continued to push for a return to the St George’s side for the Annual Classic, with 79 from 70 deliveries at No 3, to lead his side to victory. The 30-year-old had earlier picked up two wickets, with Bascome one of those dismissals.

Bascome was pleased with displays from both sides three weeks before the island is divided between east and west.

“It was a good day today with a lot of different performances from both teams and it was a good look leading up to Cup Match,’’ the St George’s captain said.

“I took my time, got myself in, gave myself a chance and looked to exploit the last seven overs, and that’s what I did.

“Of course we wanted to win the game, but we also wanted to have a look at everybody who was playing.

“We've got some of the youngsters coming through and we had a youngster [Zaki Gibbons] who bowled at the end to pick up three wickets, so it’s just exposure for everybody at the end of the day.

“It was a competition and we did want to win, but it was a good game of cricket and that was the most important thing.

“Playing red-ball cricket is a transition that everyone has to make now as we build up to Cup Match.”

Smith, who has scored two hundreds for the East Enders in the 50 overs Premier Division, wants to continue proving to the selectors that he again deserves to feature in the island’s biggest sporting event.

The all-rounder was picked as a colt in 2022 and was a reserve last year when he had just recovered from knee surgery.

“This year I’m looking to stake my claim and get recalled for Cup Match,’’ Smith said.

“I think I’m in good form and I’ve been batting pretty well this season so I’m looking to keep scoring runs and put pressure on the selectors.

“I’ve made a good amount of runs at No 3 this year, so that ideally would be my preferred position, but it depends on what the team looks like. They may have a different role for me and that’s down to the coach and the captain.

“Last year I missed a lot of cricket due to knee surgery, so it was a rush to try and find myself in some form for Cup Match.

“Unfortunately I didn’t do enough to get selected but I’ve had a full season this year, so hopefully I’ve done enough to deserve a recall.

“We have a lot of batsmen in form right now with Jarryd Richardson and Marcus Scotland scoring runs and a lot of these players in this St George’s team have been scoring runs, so you can’t take anything for granted, you have to do the best you can and leave it up to the selectors.

“They’ll have an idea of the type of team or type of tactics they need to bowl Somerset out twice. Whatever they deem is appropriate, that’s what it is, but, hopefully that includes me in the plans.”

The all-rounder spoke of what he tried to achieve when he took to the field against St George’s.

“I was looking to work on a few things, being a bit more aggressive under certain circumstances, but still keeping my shape and trying to play good cricket shots,’’ Smith said.

“Fortunately today it came off and we ended up winning the game. I’ve been working on my bowling and trying to add a few variations into it.

“I haven’t bowled too much this season, but I’m trying to improve on it as an asset for the selectors and the captain to look at and hopefully, push me further in their thoughts.”

Nzari Paynter is another batter pushing for a recall. The 24-year-old, who played Cup Match as a colt at the age of 17 in 2017, was involved in a 75-run opening stand with Scotland, another St George’s Cup Match hopeful.

“I’ve been eager to get back into the team,” Paynter said.

“Over the past years my performances haven’t been up to par, but this year I’ve been batting quite well and I will hopefully get another chance in the Classic.

“I’ve been giving myself a chance of getting recalled. I’ve scored a bit of runs so I’m happy with that, and more importantly I've been helping my team win. We’re top of the table and we can just have this last little push and take it all the way.

On the win with St David’s, Paynter felt his partnership with Scotland laid the groundwork for the victory.

“The match was really good and we bowled well to start with. They built a couple of partnerships but we kept working and overall it was a good day in the field,’’ he said.

“Marcus Scotland and I as the opening partners, we had a good start, but unfortunately I wasn't able to build on the good start, but I set the foundation for the team.”