Sea Breeze Oval (Bailey’s Bay won toss): Bailey’s Bay beat Somerset by 53 runs

Bailey’s Bay sent a strong message to Athene T20 League champions St George’s with a resounding victory over Somerset in this low-scoring affair yesterday.

Spin bowlers Delray Rawlins and Rodney Trott proved to be a menace and were responsible for five of the opposition wickets to fall, much to the delight of Bay captain Terryn Fray.

“We played well despite falling short by about 20 runs,” Fray said. “We knew that getting Kamau [Leverock] out would be key to victory, so we achieved that, although with a bit of controversy. Our spinners bowled really well as the wicket was a bit challenging. We want to continue to play our brand of cricket and hopefully challenge St George’s for the trophy. It’s on our radar.”

Batting first, Bay opened with Jordan Burgess and Coolidge Durham with the pair putting on 44 runs. The former was in swashbuckling mood as he survived three dropped catches on his way to 23 with two sixes and one four before he was caught by wicketkeeper Cofield Robinson off the bowling of Dominic Sabir going for another big hit. His opening partner stayed around to stabilise the innings with a team-high 28 before edging one off the shoulder of the bat to give Greg Maybury an easy catch.

Leverock turned to spin and had Fray stumped by Robinson for one. Bay were 63 for three after ten overs and had luck on their side as Rawlins was dropped twice, on two and 12 by Jermal Proctor.

Sabir dismissed Azende Furbert (11) and Sharye Tavares (0) in consecutive balls for a two-wicket maiden in his third over.

Nirobi Smith-Mills, who had earlier been hit on the ankle by low Rawlins driver, had the last laugh when he bowled him for 22 on the first ball of his third over before going off as Bay were struggling at 97 for seven.

Somerset would restrict Bay to a below-par 112 for eight from their allotted 20 overs as Sabir was Somerset’s best bowling on the day with figures of three for 23. Player-coach Janeiro Tucker was very economical with two wickets for 11 runs.

In reply, Somerset opened with Leverock and Sabir. Bay countered with spinner Rawlins. It became evident that the wicket was turning so Bay then brought on Trott, who broke up the 28-run opening partnership when he bowled the latter for eight in his first over. One run later, Leverock was dropped on 18 by wicketkeeper Jarryd Richardson off the bowling of Macquille Walker. The dropped catch wasn’t too costly as Leverock was run out only four runs later for a team-high 22, although in a controversial manner.

After playing forward and leaving his crease to a Trott leg break which beat the bat, wicketkeeper Richardson was thought to have knocked the bail off with his glove before throwing the ball which hit the wicket with the batter still out of his crease. Initially, there was an appeal for caught behind, which was not given but after conferring with umpire Alex Knights, leg umpire Roger Dill then raised his finger and the batter was given out as run out.

Somerset were 40 for four at the halfway mark with Tucker at the wicket. He would score five runs before falling victim to spin as Rawlins turned one causing him to change his mind in the middle of his stroke to give a lollipop catch to Furbert fielding close to the bat. Jade Morrissey was also fooled on the very next ball to give an easy pop-up to wicketkeeper Richardson to leave Somerset reeling at 45 for six with most of the recognised bats back in the pavilion.

Rawlins took a good running catch from off the boundary to dismiss Robinson off Walker as the tail started to crumble under the pressure before Somerset were skittled for 60.