St David's 352-5

Devonshire Rec 319

Lionel Cann struck a whirlwind 93 not out and several other of his players chipped in with sparkling batting performances to lead St. David's to victory over Devonshire Rec. at Lord's yesterday.

The day's hero by far skipper Cann was in majestic form, slamming a jaded Devonshire attack to all parts of the ground with hefty hitting.

What an opening day display for Cann who tore the attack apart with a blistering knock off just 35 balls, finishing with nine sixes and four fours.

At the interval his coach George Cannonier was pleased with his team's batting performance and Cann's in particular.

"Most players were batting well, Lionel in particular. He led from the front, did what he has preached to the players," said the coach.

"Our target was actually 300 runs but we managed to go beyond that for the loss of just five wickets.

"I really think other teams can expect some big scores from us this season."

But little did Cannonier know that their opponents would be in a batting mood with opener Ricardo Brangman leading a fightback, stroking 71 only to see his team just fall short at the end with just 2.5 overs remaining.

By losinjg three talented players in George O'Brien Jr., Sammy Robinson and Fiqre Crockwell few expected St. David's to be a major force this season, but this opening performance showed how they can be quite competitive _ albeit they have some holes in their bowling to fill.

With both teams rarely being challenged on a wicket that gave the bowlers little help it was obvious that the strip was indeed a batsmen's paradise _ and how players from both sides seem to love it.

But decent scores wasn't the sole contribution to the totals because there was poor fielding in abundance and both teams were guilty of this.

Batting first the home team got solid scores from their first four bats, Delyone Borden striking 76 off 66 balls with four fours and four sixes, O.J.Pitcher 51, Chris Foggo 46 and Landro Minors 32. Foggo and Minors joined in an opening stand of 73 that got them off to a solid start.

At 240 for five Cann and Arthur Pitcher (14 not out) joined in a sixth-wicket stand that added 112 with Cann the dominant partner and Pitcher content to play a support role.

Mackie Crane was the leading bowler for Devonshire with two for 67 while Lamont Brangman claimed two for 89, both off 10 overs.

With several lesser players missing from their ranks Devonshire were not expected to make much of a challenge in response but openers Ricardo Brangman and Oldapo Frederick had other ideas with the duo putting on 117, the former leading the way with 71 (10 fours and 2 sixes off 62 balls) and the latter chipping in with 37.

Additional solid knocks followed from Steven Bremer with 46, Jeremy Fray and Ricky Brangman Sr. 34 apiece and Dennis Williams 24.

But the visitors batting just fell short.

Spinner Kameron Fox was the pick of the home side bowling with two wickets for 42 off 6.1 overs while Borden claimed two for 44 off nine overs and Cann two for 68 off 10 overs.