Bermuda cricketing history was made yesterday as Southampton Rangers claimed their third title of the year ? by the toss of coin.

Having bowled Social Club out for 121 in the Premier Knockout Cup Final, Rangers were denied a chance to reply as torrential rain ended play for the day at Somerset Cricket Club.

And after plenty of debate, rule-reading and arguments, a toss of the coin was ruled to be the only way to separate the clubs.

So, just after 5 p.m., skippers Kwame Tucker and Dwayne (Streaker) Adams met in the umpires? dressing room, with a few players from both sides also sneaking in, and Randy Butler was charged with deciding the match.

Tucker, standing in for Bermuda hero Janeiro Tucker currently playing in Canada, won the toss to decide the right to call in the second and decisive toss and his shout of ?heads? proved to be the right one, prompting wild celebrations around the club.

?It is no way to win a game,? said Tucker, whose side still celebrated in usual fashion despite the manner of adding the KO Cup to their Belco Cup and one-day league crowns.

?I think justice was probably done because we had bowled them out for a pretty small total and I?m confident our guys would have knocked it off.

?It was a shame to win it like this but a win is a win.

?I feel pretty sorry for their guys, it is not a great way to lose, but the win is what we deserved.

?We have had a new strength to the side this year and it has just come together for us thanks to great coaching and all the players trying to raise the level to that of the ICC players (Tucker and Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock).?

And the victory was particularly sweet for Lionel Cann, claiming it as his sixth triumph of the season.

Cann, who missed out on the trip to Canada for the ICC Intercontinental Cup because of other commitments, was also a winner at Cup Match, in Eastern Counties on Saturday and part of the victorious ICC Trophy team.

?This has been an incredible year for me,? said Cann, just after supping the winners? cocktail from the trophy.

?This is number six for me, it has been a great year with qualifying for the World Cup and everything. This wasn?t a great way to win a trophy but a win is a win.

?I think we did enough in the first innings to justify our win.?

While back and forth phone calls to the Bermuda Cricket Board were still ongoing, there was an apprehension around the ground as to the way the match would be settled.

There was some talk of a replay, and a number of Rangers players were fearful that any re-match would see dangerman Charlie Marshall do more damage than the 16 he secured yesterday, 15 of which came from one over.

One man particularly frustrated that the match was never completed was bowler Ryan Belboda, whose four wickets in a single over ended any chance Social Club had of knocking up a decent total.

Tight bowling early on, particularly from Traddie Simpson who opened with four maidens in his second game for Rangers, restrained the normally explosive Social Club bats and they looked to be struggling on 85-4 after 31 overs.

Marshall?s arrival at the wicket was expected to provide the spark that would ignite the innings and that looked to be the case in the 34th over when he smashed 15 of the 17 to come off Belboda?s bowling.

But the right-arm medium bowler?s next over was decidedly different.

First he enticed Marshall into skying to square leg before clean bowling Kenny Phillips next ball.

David Campbell escaped an lbw decision on the hat-trick ball before falling to a spectacular one-handed diving catch by Dion Stovell at first slip. Belboda then hurled down a wide before trapping John Durham plum.

The rain may have made his efforts redundant but he will still feel the cricketing Gods appreciated his work.