Bailey’s Bay clinched the Champion of Champions by beating Western Stars by eight wickets in the final at St John’s Field yesterday.

The season-ending match finished just as the opening Premier Division football matches were kicking off, with Bay reaching their target of 102 in only 18.2 overs after dismissing Stars in 38.4 overs. Bay were also involved in a low-scoring match on Saturday, when they dethroned champions Southampton Rangers despite posting just 138 — sealing the win with a controversial “Mankad” dismissal.

Yesterday, Stars lacked the penetration in their bowling to slow up the Bay run chase, the Eastern Counties champions racing to 50 for two before lunch, before Coolidge Durham and Rodney Trott, the captain, scored the remaining 53 runs in only 8.2 overs after the break. Durham justified his elevation up the order to No 3 by scoring 41 not out off 38 balls to win the man-of-the-match award.

“The wicket was pretty good, but I just thought the application by us was much better today,” said Trott, refusing to blame another low total on the pitch. “Yesterday we lost two early wickets, and then Malli [Malachi Jones] and I put on a good partnership before we lost about six wickets for 30 runs. Today, same thing, we got a good start from Malli, then Coolie and I were able to finish the game off.

“Today I thought we batted much better. We had a couple of guys who wanted to go and play football at three o’clock so Malli left when he got out and Coolie also plays with Malli for Somerset.”

However, there was controversy on Saturday when Rangers were denied victory in the semi-final at St John’s Field, as Bay clinched a thrilling four-run victory.

Durham ran out non-striker Vernon Eve with a “Mankad” dismissal after the batsman stepped out of his crease.

Chasing a modest 138 posted by Bay, ten-man Rangers had their last pair at the crease with Eve and teenager Tayo Smith easing Rangers to victory after adding eight runs during the stand. However, they fell just short as Bay fought back to dismiss Rangers for just 134 in 42.2 overs.

“In this situation I felt we had a couple of hard decisions so my team encouraged me to do what we had to do,” Durham said. “It was a cup game and may be looked at as outside the character of the game, but the new format of the game is built and structured for more excitement with the 50-over and 20-over games. These type of things you have to be prepared for because the game is fast and furious.”

The dismissal is within the rules but is considered unsporting. Some bowlers stop and warn the non-striker if he is backing up too far.

“I didn’t really want to do it but they are a big rival of ours,” Durham said. “It was just the energy at the moment.

“I wouldn’t say I was a hero, I was just riding off my team’s energy and what we built throughout the year. There are no hard feelings.”

Durham batted like a man on a mission in the final, launching into the Stars bowlers to hit four sixes and two fours to dominate his stand with Trott, who finished on 19 not out.

Stars’ only success were the wickets of openers Terryn Fray and Jones after the pair put on 40.

Fray was trapped leg-before by guest player Joshua Gilbert and, three runs later, Jones was brilliantly run out at the bowler’s end after Treadwell Gibbons stopped Durham’s off-drive then threw down the wicket with Jones out of his crease. After lunch, Gibbons replaced Jekon Edness as wicketkeeper.

Stars used five bowlers in their first ten overs, with Gilbert taking the only wicket after sharing the new ball with Seth Campbell, who bowled only one over, giving up six runs. Jones, man of the match in Saturday’s semi-final, hit four fours and a six yesterday.

Earlier, he was again among the wickets, taking two for 40 as Stars struggled to build meaningful partnerships. Gibbons, at No 3, was their top bat with 15 from 28 balls, while opener PJ Thomas and captain Justin Robinson both scored 12. Thomas faced 21 balls and Robinson faced 53 in 50 minutes.

Derrick Brangman led the Bay bowling with three for 21 from ten overs. Kyle Hodsoll claimed two for 17 from seven and Trott two for 11 from 7.2 overs.

The Bay bowlers bowled a total of eight maidens in the Stars innings, the home team never recovering after losing their first two wickets in the fourth and fifth overs with only 17 runs on the board. Their innings lasted only 151 minutes.

“Overall it was a good season, we came away with another trophy and we’ll take that any day,” said Trott, whose club will play host to the 2018 Champion of Champions matches at Sea Breeze Oval.

“We have to be able to hold on to the county cup in order to get into that,” he said. “Hopefully when next year comes around we get a good start to the season and look to take everything.

“We’ll all go and watch North Village play now and enjoy ourselves.”