St David’s held their nerve in the final over to win a dramatic Twenty20 final and deny Bailey’s Bay a third straight victory after the holders failed to chase down the modest 106 posted by their Eastern Counties rivals.

Bay, slightly ahead of St David’s at the five-over mark when Terryn Fray and Ricky Hoyte put on 22, found themselves playing catch-up between the sixth and 15th overs when they slumped to 66 for five. Rodney Trott, the Bay captain, got them back on course for victory when he hit two fours off Allan Douglas in the 16th over.

The defending champions then moved on to 83 for five with three overs left and 24 still needed for victory. Delyone Borden, the St David’s captain, gave up eight runs in the 18th over before George O’Brien bowled Trott for 16 in the penultimate over to leave Bay still needing 13 off the final over. With O’Brien, Dion Stovell, Cejay Outerbridge and Allan Douglas all having bowled their allotted four overs, Borden turned to Kevin Hurdle to bowl the final over rather than take it himself.

Derrick Brangman made it interesting when he hit a four on the first ball, before scoring a single on the second delivery to bring Kyle Hodsoll on strike. His single on the third delivery brought up the 100 and when Brangman could only manage a single on the fourth delivery, St David’s knew the pressure was now on the Bay batsmen.

Two runs to Hodsoll on the fifth ball got them to within four runs of victory but it left the more senior batsman, Brangman, at the non-striker’s end. The pair scrambled another two runs off the final delivery as Stovell ran the ball in from long on, content to give them two as Hodsoll went for another run in a bid to tie up the score and was run out at the bowler’s end.

The large crowd were kept glued to the action as St David’s stayed in the game by taking wickets at crucial times. Brangman was the highest scorer for Bay with 30 from a six and three fours while opener Fray and bowler Zeko Burgess, promoted to No 5, both contributed 19 and Trott 16.

O’Brien and Stovell, who shared the new ball, both took two wickets, for 24 and 15 respectively, while Cejay Outerbridge took one for six off four and Douglas one for 26.

“Unbelievable, because I never thought we would get bowled out in 20 overs with the depth that we have,” said George Cannonier, the St David’s coach. “This team is so well rounded that it is hard for them to lose faith. I wanted to win this game especially because we were playing Bailey’s Bay. We were the first time to win this title three years in a row and Bay were on their third win and we didn’t want to allow that, we wanted to get the trophy back.”

Bay did the hard work of dismissing St David’s in 17.2 overs with Brangman claiming four for 23 from his four overs and Burgess, bowling several yorkers at the St David’s batsmen, supporting with two for 15 off four after coming on as first change.

O’Brien was the top-scorer for St David’s, with 45, including three sixes and two fours at No 6 after coming in at 32 for four in the only the seventh over. Brangman claimed the first three wickets when he held a return catch off Ankoma Cannonier in his first over. In his second over he had Stovell caught by Coolridge Durham at long-on before trapping OJ Pitcher lbw first ball.

Shannon Rayner was fourth out on 32 after a mixup with Douglas saw him run out for 13, the second highest score for St David’s as the Bay bowlers kept on the pressure after restricting them to 50 for five after ten overs and 88 for eight after 15.

Trott was not needed to bowl but the Bay captain admitted that. with hindsight, he probably should have come up earlier in the batting as his team failed to keep the runs flowing between the sixth and tenth overs when they added just ten runs in losing three wickets to slump to 32 for three.

“It’s a process that has to take place, we’ve got a lot of talented players and we’re still trying to see who fits best in what position,” Trott said. “As captain I should have gone out earlier, but that’s how Twenty20 cricket is.

“I thought in the middle overs is where we lost the game, from overs six to 13 as I told the guys. We didn’t have any intent, no type of ambition to say we wanted to win this game. I went out to join Derrick and that’s when it started to move along, and it came down to one run, one ball in which we could have won this game.

“Congratulations to St David’s, the won the battle today but there are some bigger things that we are looking forward to. We have the league that we definitely want to win this year and the Eastern Counties that we want to win.

“We’ll give St David’s the Twenty20 trophy, if we can win the County Cup and league, I’ll take that any day. Last year we won Twenty20 so let’s see if it flips over this time.’

Trott believes the match was good advert for the game.

“When I came down here this afternoon I thought it was a county match with the amount of people that was here,” he said. “If us and St David’s can bring that out every time we play I would like that because it is for the people and that is who we play for.”