St David's beat PHC to reach finals
Under-strength and a man down, St David's were still too strong for PHC in their Lindos Twenty20 semi-final at the National Sports Centre this afternoon.Defending a meager total of 95, Justin Pitcher, Shae Pitcher and Landro Minors all took two wickets as they bowled PHC out for 71 with nine balls remaining.Chris Foggo (17) and Mackie Darrell (14) were the only batsman to really get going, and while the holders, who have won the competition for four straight years, couldn't manage to pass a hundred that mattered little against a PHC side who have struggled all season.Relegated to the First Division last weekend, the Warwick-based club had been hoping to end their year on a high note and bowling St David's out for 95 certainly had them moving in the right direction.With OJ Pitcher, Delyone Bordenn, Lionel Cann and Del Hollis all missing, St David's needed a battling 26 from Justin Pitcher to give them something resembling a competitive total.Kyle Lightbourne, making a rare appearance, took four wickets for PHC and with Kevin Tucker also getting in on the act St David's were dismissed in just 17 overs.Unfortunately PHC's batting did not mirror their bowling and they struggled to make any impact against a patch-work St David's attack that kept things tight throughout.Only briefly did Jason Anderson (11) and Khiry Furbert look like giving PHC the start that they needed, however, once St David's found their line and length PHC were never in the game and they crawled to 36 from 12 overs.St David's will now take on Southampton Rangers in tomorrow's final, after Rangers beat Leg Trappers by 24 runs in a game they could have lost.Leg Trappers restricted their Premier Division opponents to 120 for eight from their 20 overs, with Janeiro Tucker's unbeaten 51 holding the Rangers innings together.Trappers largely bowled well, although the 15 wides they sent down proved costly. David Pringle and Johan Ooosthuizen both took two wickets, while Rangers contributed to their own problems with some poor running that led to three run outs.Chasing 121 to win, Trappers skipper Gary Knight undid all his side's good work in the field with a baffling batting line-up that saw him open alongside Simon Jones, leaving several big hitters to come in well down the order.With the pair failing to even get the ball off the square, Trappers managed just 15 runs from the first five overs and were always struggling to recover from then on.Knight was out early, but Jones (nine) scratched around against Dion Stovell and Ryan Belboda, occupying the crease for more time than Trappers could spare.Jordache Rawson's half century kept the game interesting, but by the time the likes of Dave Horan, Pringle and Dave Martin got to the wicket the run rate was more than nine an over and Dwayne Leverock's presence meant that a successful chase was always going to be unlikely.Leverock finished with four wickets for ten runs and Leg Trappers ended up well short on 96 for nine.Tomorrow's final begins at 11am and will be followed by Bermuda's first game against the MCC. You can follow both games live on our website, coverage starts at 10.30am.