Wendell Smith, the Western Stars coach, believes his side’s Twenty20 defeat to Cleveland was a valuable learning experience for his players.

Stars failed to reach the 106 for seven posted by Cleveland County at Sea Breeze Oval on Saturday, despite an opening stand of 52 between Khiry Furbert and Ian Armstrong.

Three skied catches in the middle part of the innings contributed to Stars slumping to 89 for six before finishing on 105 for seven.

“Chasing 106, we were cruising at something like 55 for one and then poor decision-making led to our demise,” said Smith, who watched three of his batsmen try to hit spinner Isaiah Creighton out of the ground against a strong northern wind.

Creighton picked up three for 19 in his four overs to turn the match.

“It is important that our players become better thinkers in respect to their cricketing application and execution,” Smith said.

“We had many positives, especially with the bowling and fielding of particular individuals, although we dropped two chances. Young Dalin [Richardson] took a superb return catch, about one inch off the ground from a well-hit straight drive [by Stephen Douglas Jr] — quite stunning. He looks a good prospect.

“Our two other transfers, Ian Armstrong and Khiry Furbert, gave us a 50-run start.”

Stars face Southampton Rangers on Sunday in their final group match and Smith hopes some important lessons have been learnt from the Cleveland loss.

“It was truly a blessing to have lost for had we won, there would have been little reflection about our errors, such as the vast number of wides that we bowled for a T20 game,” Smith said.

“And our poor shot selection under the circumstances, for example 36 balls to make 30 runs and three batsmen are dismissed trying to hit sixes into a very strong wind. This, after a platform has been set.’

Stars, in their run chase, accumulated 76 dot balls out of 120 deliveries. “Rather than take singles, we made poor decisions,” Smith said. “This needs to be improved upon.”

Commitment is also something that Smith has been stressing as his team prepares for their first season back in the Premier Division. He guided them to promotion at the first attempt, but knows there is still plenty of hard work to be done.

“I dropped my most productive batsman from last year, Temiko Wilson, for being late to the game and I also rested Treaddie Gibbons to play another youngster,” he said.

Gibbons, who returned to Stars as a late transfer from Cleveland, is likely to be included for the match against Rangers, while Richardson will go up against his former team after his move from Rangers.