The Belco Cup final proved to be one of the most exciting ever as Bailey’s Bay reinforced the belief in cricket that low targets can sometimes be the hardest to reach.

Bay, who lost to Devonshire Recreation Club in the first final in the competition in 1987 when it was the Premier Cup, became the last Belco Cup winners after defending their modest 127 in a match reduced to 30 overs a side after rain delayed the start until 2.50pm.

In Saturday’s semi-final against Cleveland County, Bay posted 188 and still ended up winning comfortably by 73 runs.

Yesterday’s three-hour delay proved worth the wait as the low-scoring contest had several twists, the sun coming out brightly late in the afternoon as Bay wrapped up a 31-run victory with 2½ overs remaining.

St David’s, who scored a mammoth 340 against holders Southampton Rangers on Saturday at Somerset Cricket Club, struggled to reach 100 at home as they failed yet again to make home field count in a Belco Cup final.

In seven appearances in the Belco final at Lord’s, St David’s have managed just one win. They have now just won three times in ten appearances in the final going back to the Camel Cup, which they won in 2001 and 2002.

Their lone Belco Cup title was in 2014 when they beat Willow Cuts, before losing to Rangers last year. This was their fifth straight appearance in the final, losing twice each to Rangers and Bay.

“We’re very disappointed, we got 340 for five yesterday and then come down here and can’t chase 128,” OJ Pitcher, the St David’s captain, said.

“We’ve still got work to do, but you have to give credit where credit’s due, Bay bowled well.

“We lost wickets early, valuable players like Delyone [Borden], Fiqre [Crockwell] and myself. At one point I thought we were back on track when Dion [Stovell] and Allan [Douglas Jr] walked to the wicket because Allan has been in excellent form. When he went we were always on the back foot and kept losing wickets.

“All we needed was one partnership, but it didn’t happen, so once again credit to Bay who deserve the props. They are the top team right now because the stats are proving it.”

Bay, with a vocal crowd behind them, made a good job of defending their total, not bothered by what St David’s did the day before.

“The wicket made a difference as Somerset during the Twenty20 tournament was producing a lot of runs while down here was the opposite,” Irving Romaine, the Bay coach, said. “The wicket was a little bit slow and the field was definitely slow after that hard rain.

“The objective was not to bowl any spinners and the captain didn’t even bowl himself. They got themselves in trouble when they started to hit across [line] instead of just playing it down the park and going for ones and twos. In the end, luckily, they got themselves out trying to clear the ropes.”

Nyrobi Carmichael returned to the team and picked up three wickets on his way to being voted man of the match.

Rodney Trott, the Bay captain, said team harmony was the key to yesterday’s win, after posting a modest total. “With our team spirit anything’s possible,” Trott said. “Every Tuesday and Thursday we put in the work and as you can see we’re together.

“Even if we get 100 runs, 90 or 250 we play the same way, hard, tough cricket and this is our reward. We deserve every moment of this. At first I thought we were about 30 runs short, but as I said last week our bowlers have been putting in good shifts for the last three years and pulling us through.”

Trott praised youngster Carmichael for his outstanding performance. “Nyrobi’s a very special talent, from the end of last year to the beginning of this year he’s been one of our better bowlers, him and Kyle [Hodsoll].

“I told him I was going to give him a rest yesterday [in the semi-finals] to give other guys the opportunity, but I told him he would definitely play today and he was OK with that. And look what happened, he got Man of the Match and he deserved it too.

“He changed the game with some important wickets. He’s short and a little skiddy and those guys were trying to hit him but couldn’t get underneath his deliveries.

“We’re going to enjoy this moment and be back at it on Tuesday. looking forward to the Western Stars game on Sunday.”

Belco have ended its 14 years of sponsoring the competition.