Somerset Cricket Club (St David’s won toss): St David’s beat Willow Cuts by three wickets

Loren Marshall and Kevin Hurdle shared in an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 62 in seven overs as St David’s dealt a harsh blow to Willow Cuts’ hopes of a first Premier Division title yesterday when they handed them a three-wicket defeat.

Marshall, playing in only his third match of the season because of injury, hooked Kamal Bashir for successive sixes to end the match in dramatic fashion as St David’s reached their target of 198 with 14 balls remaining.

He and Hurdle, playing his most important knock for the champions since his mid-season transfer from Flatts, snatched a possible victory right out of Cuts’ hands in the space of just seven balls when they each hit two sixes.

Hurdle straight-drove Deunte Darrell for two sixes in the 47th over before Marshall hit Bashir over square leg off two short balls to seal the win. Marshall, who has not played since the Belco Cup semi-final and final, finished with 46 not out, with five sixes, while Hurdle hit four sixes and a four in his knock of 39 after joining Marshall in the 40th over with the score 136 for seven.

It was still anybody’s game at that point after St David’s slumped from 89 for two, a third-wicket stand of 64 between Fiqre Crockwell and captain OJ Pitcher having been broken in Darrell’s second over when he bowled the former for 47. In the same over, Darrell trapped Pitcher leg-before for 25 to make it 90 for four.

Cuts continued to take wickets at regular intervals, with George O’Brien, Rudell Pitcher and Justin Pitcher going cheaply before Hurdle joined Marshall.

“A couple of our top bats had just gotten out and I hadn’t played a game since the Belco Cup, so I had to put my head down and bat,” Marshall said. “Having to get surgery right after Belco Cup has been hard for me, watching the guys play every week and win. Getting out to training has been nice for me and getting some batting practice this week really helped.”

With only Del Hollis and Ricky Foggo to come, Marshall knew the importance of the partnership, with Malachi Jones and Kamal Bashir coming back into the attack in the critical last few overs.

“I just told Hurdle, ‘I don’t want to bat with anybody else besides you’ and he put his head down and stuck with me to the end,” Marshall said. “When Hurdle hit Deunte Darrell for those two sixes, it made it easy for us. We just kept setting small targets: 150, then 160, then 170 and 180. And before we knew it, we were across the line with two sixes in the end.”

Going into the match, St David’s led Southampton Rangers by eight points and Cuts by 13 with a game in hand. “I’m happy to be back and I’ll try to help us win it for the community,” Marshall said. “We deserve it.”

Darrell and spin bowler Kevon Fubler both took three wickets, Darrell going for 56 from his ten overs and Fubler for 35. Darrell was also responsible for the run-out of opener McLaren Lowe when he stopped a drive at short extra cover and then threw down the wicket at the striker’s end in the third over of the innings.

In St David’s previous visit to Somerset, they suffered their only league defeat and the 197 posted by Cuts was not an easy total to chase on a slow outfield after the recent heavy rain. Sheroy Fubler was top scorer for Cuts with 40, while Ricardo Brangman made 39 in a late flurry that produced four sixes and a four.

Chris Foggo scored 26 and Darrell 22, with O’Brien taking three for 25 from 9.5 overs and Rudell Pitcher two for 36 to lead the St David’s bowlers.