Somerset Cricket Club (Cleveland won toss): Cleveland beat Somerset by 85 runs

Aaron Adams turned back the clock as Cleveland finally found cause to celebrate, bringing high-riding Somerset crashing back to earth with a 85-run trouncing of the west-end club at yesterday.

Despite missing several regular team members and having to play veterans in their stead, the Harris Bay men showed their young counterparts that experience does count a great deal, with Adams most demonstrative as he produced a sparkling 61 runs batting at No 6.

Adams, nursing a bad hamstring, eschewed running between the wicket for boundaries instead, lashing out for eight fours and three sixes from 44 balls.

Still Adams was not alone in the run scoring department, with the visitor’s top order in good form as Cleveland made the home team toil in blazing sun and heat.

Despite losing Treadwell Gibbons early on for just eight, Jason Anderson and Damali Bell rectified matters with a 66-run second-wicket partnership, combining patience and aggression to frustrate the home attack.

Anderson was the more aggressive of the two, smashing six fours and two sixes in his 53-ball knock, while Bell scored exactly 50 during an 82-ball vigil at the crease.

Also pressed into playing duty was coach Clay Smith and he also got into the runs with 32 at No 4. From there it was Adams’s show as he guided Cleveland towards 233 for eight, which would ultimately prove safe.

Three Somerset bowlers managed braces, with Christian Gibbons taking two for 23, Jacobi Robinson two for 38 and Joshua Gilbert two for 49. Jordan DeSilva had one wicket for 39.

Turning to bat Somerset’s chase got off inauspiciously when opener Donnico Hollis went for a duck, however the ship was at least partially righted as Pierre Smith and Joshua Gilbert engaged in a 69-run second-wicket partnership, with the former grafting 36 and the latter 31, before they were dismissed six runs apart. However, their slow rate of scoring dictated more aggression later in the order ... not a strength of the line-up, which was blatantly exposed.

Jordan DeSilva and captain Jekon Edness did their utmost to up the ante, registering 19 and 31 respectively, but a collapse that resulted in the final six batsmen contributing a grand total of nine runs confirmed defeat and an end to a win streak that stood at two.