Somerset made certain of their One Premier Division survival after comfortably beating Flatts by seven wickets at Sea Breeze Oval yesterday.

On an uneven pitch, Somerset dismissed Flatts for 148 in 41.2 overs and then reached their target in 26.2 overs with mostly disciplined batting. Opener Jade Morrissey, dropped twice by Cameron Smith, led the way with an innings of 45.

“It wasn’t easy, but we didn’t see that because the wicket looked good,” said Somerset captain Jordan DeSilva, describing it as “a good toss to lose”.

He added: “We were going to bat because it looked like a good wicket, but after the first couple of deliveries we figured it might not be bad to bat second.

“When you’re batting second you don’t have to take as many risks, knowing what you’re chasing.”

Morrissey shared an opening stand of 38 with Greg Maybury, who was first to fall for 18 soon after Morrissey survived a difficult chance at long-off.

Morrissey, later given another life when Smith failed to hold an easier catch off his own bowling, then added 59 for the second wicket with Alje Richardson to take Somerset to 97. Morrissey was then out leg-before to a ball he insisted he “bottom-edged on to his pad”.

After Richardson was caught behind for 26 off 14-year-old spinner Logan Jones to make it 106 for three, DeSilva and Joshua Gilbert shared an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 43 to wrap up the victory.

“The openers did their job and it was up to the rest of the guys to make sure we got over the line,” said DeSilva, whose team will be joined in the top flight by the other Cup Match club, St George’s, who earned promotion this season. Somerset were promoted last season.

“It was a one-off game and anybody could have won,” DeSilva said. “We would have reflected more on the bonus points we missed out on, games when we were bowled out or games when we didn’t bowl the other team out.

“If today hadn’t gone our way we wouldn’t have dwelled on it too much, especially on a wicket that wasn’t conducive to good cricket.”

Flatts looked set for a more challenging total after Dajon Carey and Cofield Robinson added 55 for the second wicket in the wake of the departure of Reggie Baker with only 16 runs on the board.

However, a slump resulted in them slipping to 78 for four as Robinson departed for 11 and Regino Smith and Christof van Tonder scored just one apiece before falling to spinners Gilbert and Justin Corday.

Carey added 36 for the fifth wicket with captain Kijuan Franks to bring up the hundred as Flatts had a middle-order recovery, only to watch the innings fall apart after Carey’s departure with the score 114 for five.

He hit eight fours and four sixes in his knock of 64. The last five wickets went down for only 34 runs.

Barry DeCouto scored 19 before he was the final man out in the 42nd over while Franks contributed 16 after being bowled by Marcus Johnson.

Greg Maybury, who closed out the Flatts innings with the wicket of DeCouto, finished with figures of three for 17, while Gilbert and Corday took two wickets each.

The three Somerset wickets were shared with Baker claiming one for 24 after breaking the opening stand while Regino Smith had one for 29.

Youngster Jones claimed one for 40, his figures dashed after giving up 24 runs in his third over when DeSilva hit him for a couple of sixes.

DeSilva had some encouraging words for the schoolboy.

“He has a good action, bowls both deliveries [off break and leg break] and as time goes on and he gets bigger and stronger it will be a lot easier for him,” DeSilva said.

“I remember when I started at 13 or 14, guys didn’t take it easy on you and those are the tests for you. I figured if I didn’t go after him that he might get me ... eat or be eaten.

“But he’s a good young bowler and Flatts have a prodigy on their hands.”