Islanders, Rangers on collision course
St. David's and Southampton Rangers will look to continue their unbeaten runs in the Twenty/20 league this weekend as the two sides appear to be on a collision course towards the final.
With time running out for other teams to make a move up the standings and earn a place in the semi-finals, today and tomorrow should see a few mouth-watering fixtures.
Champions and Group 'A' leaders St. David's take to the field today against Cleveland and face Warwick tomorrow after a relatively straightforward weekend a week ago.
The Islanders swept aside Somerset Bridge by six wickets after bowling their opponents out for a meagre 60 runs. Spinners Delyone Borden and Del Hollis did the damage with two wickets apiece while the Pitcher boys, Justin and Shea, took control of the run chase.
Although facing a much harder task against PHC on Saturday, they also won with minimal fuss.
This time it was Chris Douglas (61) and a brisk knock from Lionel Cann (43 not out) that paced the side to a seven-wicket victory over their Premier Division foes.
In Cleveland today they face a team winless after consecutive losses to PHC and Police, while Warwick are coming off the back of an impressive win over Western Stars which kept them in the race for the top seed in the group.
Group 'B' leaders Rangers will look to continue their winning ways when they face against winless Willow Cuts and unbeaten Flatts.
The Western Counties champions made light work of Somerset and Bailey's Bay last week to sit atop their group and remain the team to beat in their division.
The side put up the second highest total of the league thus far – 218 – against Bay on Saturday on their way to a 27-run win thanks to Kwame Tucker (45) and Dwayne Leverock, who claimed three wickets for 29 runs.
On Sunday they didn't need 200-plus runs to beat Somerset, having kept their opponents to a very reachable total of 164, of which Azeem Pitcher smashed 104.
Leverock again shined with the ball, taking two wickets for 29 runs, while opener Dion Stovell led the run charge with a fine knock of 58 to lead Rangers to a comfortable five-wicket win.
Willow Cuts are certainly expected to have their hands full against Rangers, having already lost to Flatts by six wickets and Somerset by four wickets.
The newly-promoted side face a must-win weekend as they also play fellow new boys Devonshire Rec., who had a win and a loss last weekend and sit just behind Rangers and Flatts.
Flatts also had a weekend to remember as they got two wins out of two, having beat Cuts and Leg Trappers to stand alongside Rangers in their group.
Today and tomorrow will see a full schedule of Twenty20 matches. See Scoreboard (Page 20) for a full list of matches for both days.
