Somerset’s One 50 Overs Premier Division status was left hanging by a thread after they slumped to a nine-wicket defeat against Bailey’s Bay at Somerset Cricket Club yesterday.

Zeko Burgess and Kyle Hodsoll were the heroes for Bay as they claimed nine wickets between them as winless Somerset were skittled for the season’s lowest total of 50 in 20.2 overs.

Burgess returned season-best figures of five for 17 — his second five-wicket haul of the campaign — while Hodsoll claimed four for 24.

Coolie Durham and Pierre Smith then finished the job, producing a 49-run partnership to carry the visiting side over the line.

The victory, Bay’s fourth of a season, all but secured their top-flight survival with one round of matches remaining.

“It’s a nice result that we needed to avoid relegation and Zeko and Kyle bowled extremely well,” Noel Gibbons, the Bay assistant coach, said.

“Zeko got five wickets and the whole five were bowled, so that shows that he was bowling straight with pace behind it. Kyle is just a quality bowler.”

Somerset won the toss but surprisingly opted to bat on a damp pitch, a decision they would regret.

“I was surprised they went in,” Gibbons, the former Bay captain, added. “The wicket was a bit damp when we arrived and so I was surprised to see them bat first.”

Seam bowlers Burgess and Hodsoll bowled cleverly, varying their line and length with deadly effect to keep the Somerset batsmen on the back foot.

Burgess made the breakthrough in the fourth over when he bowled Alje Richardson with a delivery that stayed low and then struck again two overs later when Solomon Burrows, the Somerset wicketkeeper, was bowled after failing to pick a slower delivery.

The home side were further pegged back when Jade Morrissey and Jordan DeSilva, the Somerset captain, were both dismissed cheaply. Morrissey played a delivery from Burgess onto his stumps while DeSilva was bowled by an inswinger from the same bowler to leave Somerset reeling at 24 for four in the twelfth over.

Hodsoll picked up his first wicket the next over when he bowled Joshua Gilbert with a yorker and then had Gregg Maybury held at short mid-wicket and Marcus Johnson trapped leg before wicket as Somerset slipped to 33 for seven.

Burgess completed his five-wicket haul the next over when he bowled Dalin Richardson, Somerset’s top scorer with ten from 18 balls and only batsman in double figures.

Tai Cariah became Hodsoll’s fourth victim when he was held at long off with no addition to the score before Nyhrobi Carmichael ended the innings when he trapped last man Micah Simons leg before wicket.

Somerset made early inroads at the start of Bay’s reply when opener Terryn Fray was dismissed cheaply.

But that was as good as it got for the host side as Durham and Smith put the shutters up and saw the visiting side to safety.

Simons, the left-arm seam bowler, claimed the only Bay wicket to fall.

Somerset will meet second from bottom Western Stars in their final league match at St John’s Field on Sunday in a match that will determine which team is automatically relegated and who will play the runner-up from the First Division in a promotion play-off.