Southampton Rangers 207

Somerset CC 208-5

Somerset Cricket Club shattered Southampton Rangers' slim Premier Division title hopes and enhanced their own chances of survival in the top flight at Southampton Oval on Saturday.

As Somerset were led by a devastating second spell from seamer Jordan DeSilva and a Jekon Edness half-century, an understrength Rangers proved no match for the visitors who won by five wickets with 5.4 overs to spare to hand idle Young Men's Social Club a second straight Premier title.

In terms of avoiding relegation, however, Somerset are not quite out of the woods yet as they remain level with St.George's on points but do have the luxury of having a game in hand on their East End rivals.

An outright win against Rangers in their final 50 overs match of the season would lift Somerset past St.George's while anything less could see the relegation issue settled on net run rate. Devonshire Recreation Club were the first Premier club to be relegated this season.

Promising all-rounder DeSilva, who has had a memorable season having represented Bermuda at the Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia and made his debut in Cup Match, laid the foundation for Somerset's crucial win over Rangers by claiming four for 29.

The left-arm seamer was the architect of Rangers' middle and lower order slide that saw them plunge from 166 for three to 207 all out in 45.5 overs.

An unbeaten 50 from wicketkeeper-batsman Edness that contained four fours put the finishing tocuhes to Somerset's fine outing at the Oval. The number four bat featured in vital stands of 97 and 58 for the fifth and sixth wickets along with all-rounders Shane Hollis (39) and Jacobi Robinson (29) who was also at the crease when the winning runs were scored to ignite celebrations in the city at Social Club.

Seamer Gary Crofton, the most senior player on the pitch, claimed all of the Somerset wickets to fall for 42 runs but received very little in the way of support from a toothless Rangers attack that struggled in the absences of player/coach Janeiro Tucker and swing bowler Ryan Belboda.

Earlier, solid knocks by Dion Stovell (72), Gerald Simons (49) and Kwame Tucker (39) placed Rangers in a commanding position before DeSilva triggered a collapse that saw the hosts surrender their last seven wickets for the addition of 41 runs.

Meanwhile, Saturday's remaining Premier Division encounter involving Cleveland County and Police failed to get underway at Sea Breeze Oval due to an unprepared pitch.

FIRST DIVISION

Willow Cuts 103

Leg Trappers 105-5

Leg Trappers made hard work of what should have been a straight forward run chase at Police Field before eventually handing visiting Willow Cuts a five-wicket loss in a low scoring First Division affair to keep their promotion hopes alive.

Trappers gobbled up 44 overs before they eventually posted triple digits and were forced to grind their way to victory after slow bowler Reggie Tucker jr (two for 19) and medium pacer Sheroy Fubler (two for 13) made the breakthrough to revive their team's hopes of defending a low total.

Leading Trappers' run chase were Stephen Drake who topped scored with 26 while Mike Toyer contributed a valuable 20 at the top of the order.

Earlier, seamer Nigel Forrester ran through the Cuts batsmen like a hot knife slicing through butter on the way to gathering man-of-the-match figures of eight for 42.

Skipper Bergon Spencer hit an unbeaten 48 and Omar Amory chipped in with 11 to lead the Cuts resistance lower down the order.

Trappers take on newly crowned league champions Bailey's Bay in their final match of the season requiring nothing short of a win if they are to stand any chance of overhauling second-placed PHC and securing the final promotion spot.

Meanwhile, Saturday's remaining First Division clash involving Western Stars and Warwick failed to get underway at St. John's Field due to the unavailability of umpires.