White Hill Field (Southampton won toss): Southampton beat Warwick by six wickets

Southampton Rangers retained their Western Counties title after easily getting by Warwick in today’s final.

A short game was always feared after Janeiro Tucker, the Rangers captain, invited Warwick to bat after winning the toss. The game was over at 2pm after Warwick were dismissed for just 69 in 27.4 overs and Rangers replied with 72 for four in just 12.4 overs.

Tucker and Vernon Eve, the left-arm spinner, claimed seven wickets between them, Eve taking four for 18 from 7.4 overs and Tucker three for nine off six overs.

Defending a modest total, Warwick putting up some fight by taking three wickets in the space of five runs, though by that time the victory was a foregone conclusion for Rangers. Warwick took wickets on 46, 48 and 51 before Tucker came in at 51 for four and ended the game with a six off Stephan Dill, taking three steps down the crease and dispatching the seamer over mid-wicket.

In the previous over from the northern end, Dill put down a skied chance at mid-off from Gerald Simons off Stephen Bremar. Simons, who opened the batting with Kwame Tucker, finished high man with 38 not out from five fours while Andrew Raynor, batting at No 3 and joining Simons in the first over after Tucker was dismissed by Dill, scored 14.

Brothers Derrick and Ricardo Brangman were dismissed without scoring, after Simons and Raynor shared in a second-wicket stand of 41 following Kwame Tucker’s early departure. The three wickets were shared with Dill, and guest players Jordan DeSilva and Stephen Bremar taking one each.

Earlier, Kyle Swan, batting at No 3, and opener Shonari Boyles-Simons were the high men for Warwick with 17 and 16 respectively. Warwick also lost a wicket in the first over when Cameron Jeffers was run out for a duck.

Boyles-Simons and Swan steadied things briefly, adding 23 for the second wicket before Janeiro Tucker broke the stand when he bowled Boyles-Simons. He then removed Ebbin ten runs later before Eve claimed the wicket of Swan to make it 41 for four after 16 overs.

The bottom fell out of the Warwick innings after a promising fifth wicket stand of 21 between Bremar and DeSilva (9) was broken to make it 62 for five. Bremar, batting at No 5, finished with 11 not out after partners departed regularly, the last five wickets falling for just seven runs with three batsmen in the tail end failing to score.

Rangers will represent the Western Counties in the Champion of Champions competition which they won last year after thrashing St David’s by 199 runs in the final. Rangers had convincing wins in the earlier round of the counties, beating Willow Cuts by eight wickets, Somerset Bridge by 105 runs — scoring just 142 before dismissing Bridge for a paltry 37 — and PHC by seven wickets in the last round.