Allan Douglas stole the show with 144 runs as St David’s moved to within one victory of clinching the One Premier Division Twenty20 title at Lord’s yesterday.

Douglas and Ajuan Lamb posted the first 200-run opening stand in the competition when they added 215 before Douglas was caught by Jaiden Manders at cover in the fifteenth over,

St David’s posted 253 for three in their 20 overs and then kept Stars to 154 for six to win by 99 runs.

The home side rested Delyone Borden and Loren Marshall after their win in the Eastern Counties Cup final on Saturday, but Stars still had no answer to the opening onslaught after St David’s won the toss and opted to bat.

Douglas smashed seven fours and 17 sixes of 59 balls. Lamb, content to play second fiddle, reached his own 50 in the same over that Douglas was dismissed, before finishing with 66 from 49 balls. He hit six fours and three sixes.

“We were scrambling a bit [to field a full team],” Chris Douglas, the St David’s captain, said.

“A couple of guys were a bit tired after the [Eastern Counties] game. After coming second in the league it would be nice to finish it off by winning the Twenty20.”

Seth Campbell and Rohan Davis put on 50 for the first wicket off 5.4 overs. Campbell was run out for 24 by Alan Douglas’s direct hit at the bowler’s end.

Khiry Furbert top scored for Stars with 40 off 38 balls, with three fours and a six, while Nyon Steede added 28. St David’s face St George’s in their final match on September 16 at Wellington Oval. St David’s are unbeaten after four games while St George’s have won three and lost one.

Meanwhile, Dion Stovell produced a captain’s innings to guide Southampton Rangers to a seven-wicket win over Bailey’s Bay at Sea Breeze Oval yesterday.

The Rangers captain thumped an unbeaten 69 as the visiting side replied to Bay’s 131 all out with 151 for three off 14.1 overs.

Stovell, whose 35-ball knock included seven fours and four sixes, added 72 runs for the second wicket, with fellow all-rounder Charles Trott hitting 34 to put Rangers back on track after opener partner Najiyah Raynor was dismissed for a golden duck. He added 43 runs for the third wicket with former Bay player Tre Manders and 19 in an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership with Ricardo Brangman, who clinched his team’s win with a six.

“It’s the end of the season and I had no real responsibility but to just go and enjoy myself,” Stovell said. “I always like opening in T20 and to express myself. It was a great innings by Charles [Trott] as well.”

Bay’s bowling attack’s struggled with their line and length and paid the price as the Rangers batsmen punished anything wide or loose.

The home side lost wickets in bunches after electing to bat on an excellent batting track.

Openers Rodney Trott and Coolridge Durham added 33 runs in four overs to get them off to a fine start.

However, Bay suffered a massive top-order collapse to slip to 88 for five in the twelfth over.

Terryn Fray, the Bay captain, led the recovery during a top innings of 28 from 33 balls. But once he became the sixth wicket to fall they suffered another collapse, losing their remaining four wickets for 18 runs.

Janeiro Tucker, Tayo Smith, Lamont Brangman and Trott claimed two wickets each for Rangers.

n Somerset defaulted their match against St George’s at Wellington Oval because of a lack of players.

“We advised the Bermuda Cricket Board early in the week that we were forfeiting the match because we couldn’t get 11 players together,” Jeff Richardson, the Somerset coach, said.

“It has been difficult for us to field a team because of school [commitments] and people being on vacation.”