Chris Douglas enjoyed a winning start to his captaincy at St David’s, claiming two wins at the weekend to leave the 50 overs champions with a perfect record after three matches.

Yesterday at Lord’s, they squeezed out a two-wicket win over Eastern Counties rivals Bailey’s Bay, chasing down their opponent’s 151 for seven as they replied with 152 for eight off 39.3 overs.

The stage was set for a thrilling finish when St David’s lost the key wicket of Allan Douglas, caught on the mid-wicket boundary by Coolie Durham for 29 to make it 116 for seven. Rudell

Pitcher departed in the next over from Zenawi Bowen to make it 123 for eight when Derrick Brangman held a low catch at long-off, leaving George O’Brien and Cejay Outerbridge to take them over the line with an unbeaten stand of 29. O’Brien scored 24 from 32 balls to play the senior role before Outerbridge swept Bermuda team-mate Stephen Outerbridge for four to complete the win.

“We have three wins, including Rangers and Bailey’s Bay who are two of our most feared competition,” Douglas said.

“To have a 3-0 record and both those teams having a loss really sets us on a good path to win the league again, three championships in a row.

“We’re undercooked as my mate Stefan Kelly would say, but we are three games in and there are only seven games left, so if we can finish this first half undefeated then we are just about there. That’s the goal, to finish the first half undefeated.”

St David’s struggled early on in their run chase, losing Ajuan Lamb ten balls into the innings when Brangman bowled him with his fourth delivery.

Delyone Borden was caught behind off Kyle Hodsoll in the seventh over before Hodsoll struck again in his next over, trapping Chris Douglas leg-before as he attempted to flick a ball off his legs and was hit on the bottom of his pad. It was a decision that angered Douglas who left the field on the far side.

His dismissal made it 26 for three which became 49 for four and 57 for five in the eighteenth over as Irving Romaine, the Bay coach, picked up two quick wickets with his spin. He removed brothers Arthur and Justin Pitcher in his first two overs.

A 41-run stand for the seventh wicket between Allan Douglas and Rudell Pitcher brought up the 100 for St David’s to keep them on course for victory.

A missed chance off Douglas by wicketkeeper Sinclair Smith when the score was 104 for six proved costly for Bay, after Douglas hit the ball straight up in the air. Smith failed to get under it and the ball went straight through his gloves.

Douglas eventually departed in the 32nd over after facing 36 balls and hitting a four and three sixes in his 29.

Hodsoll and Romaine both claimed three wickets. Romaine had a confident caught and bowled appeal off Douglas turned down by umpire Oscar Andrade who indicated the ball was hit into the ground.

Bay, sent in by St David’s, also had a slow start, losing their first three wickets with only 17 runs on the board, before a fourth wicket went down on 34.

They recovered to 73 for five and then 105 for six before stand of 21 and 25 for the seventh and eighth wickets took them to 151 for seven after 50 overs, scoring at just three runs an over. Brian Hall conceded just 12 runs in his ten overs, which included five maidens.

Brangman was their top scorer with 41 not out from 52 balls after captain Rodney Trott (25) and Outerbridge (31) added useful runs in the middle order. Opener O’Brien claimed two for 28, while Chris Douglas took two for 26.

“Today we could have won by five or six wickets, keeping them to 110, 120, if we train the way we should,” Douglas admitted. “Training is not where it should be; if it was, you would see a lot better cricket from us.

“We haven’t trained that much, to be honest, but because a lot of us are so talented it gets us over the hurdle. I opened the batting with George yesterday and we had a 60 or 70-run partnership. His innings today was exactly what we needed.”

Douglas, who recently returned to the island from studying overseas, said he is enjoying his first stint as captain.

“It’s a good feeling to be captain of the team, I’ve always played a senior role in the team, lending my expertise,” he said.

“I’ve always wanted to be captain and I’m happy the team wants me to be. I was the people’s choice as they say, which is a good thing.”