Western Stars 264

Social Club 113

Champions Western Stars comfortably retained the Central Counties Cup on Saturday after handing Social Club a crushing 151-run first round defeat at St. John's Field.

Even in the absence of Jermaine Postlethwaite and all-rounders Arnold Manders and Saleem Mukuddem, Stars were far too strong for their First Division opponents.

Stars racked up 264 all out in 46.5 overs and then dismissed Social Club for a paltry 113 in only 29.1 overs to cruise into the second round.

Bermuda Under-19 skipper Jekon Edness broke out of a recent batting slump to lead Stars' batting with a top knock of 74. Coming in at number three, the promising youngster smashed nine fours and a towering six out of the ground during a spectacular innings at the crease.

Aiding Edness were openers Treadwell Gibbons Jr. and skipper Albert Steede. The opening pair put on 103 runs for the first wicket with Gibbons cracking 44 (eight fours) and Steede 43 with seven fours.

Number nine batsman, Justin Robinson, added an unbeaten 23 runs lower down the order which was glossed with four fours.

Social Club skipper Charles Darrell was the pick of his team's bowling after returning outstanding figures of five for 30 from 9.4 overs including one maiden. Darrell was supported by spinners Levar Talbot, who grabbed three wickets for 56 runs, and Will Furbert, who had two for 61 from ten overs.

Talbot and Furbert should have perhaps been given the ball earlier as it was they who finally broke up Steede and Gibbons' opening century partnership. The pair generated considerable movement off the pitch and would go on to enjoy further success with the ball - though Stars still managed to score freely at 6.25 runs per over.

In fact, Stars threatened to surpass the 300 mark with Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock, playing his first match of the season, christening a new bat by stroking a fluent 19 at number five to go along with Robinson's unbeaten knock.

However, Darrell would have none of that as he ripped through the champions' lower order to grab the last four wickets to fall.

Stars went from 211 for six to 264 all out. Social Club also yielded a costly 47 runs to the extras column.

In pursuit of their opponents' formidable total, Social Club got off to a poor start when pacer Kevin Hurdle had opener Talbot sharply caught at mid-on by Gershon Gibbons with only five runs on the board.

But the First Division side slowly set about repairing the early damage with Furbert (ten) and Dano Outerbridge (14) putting on 23 runs for the second wicket before spinner Leverock combined with Edness to have the latter stumped.

But a dogged Social Club again refused to throw in the towel with Furbert and Dwayne (Streaker) Adams featuring in their team's highest stand of 40 runs for the third wicket.

Adams dominated the partnership by smashing three fours and a six during a top knock of 23 before he was brilliantly caught on the mid-wicket boundary by Justin Robinson who held onto a difficult running catch off Leverock.

However, Adams' departure sparked a severe middle-order collapse as Social Club lost their next two wickets without any addition to the score with Leverock just beginning to unwind.

The jovial giant had Craig Darrell (0) caught by Gershon Gibbons fielding at first slip before 14-year-old seamer Deniko Hollis (two for 36) had Kenneth Darrell plumb leg before wicket to leave Social Club reeling at 76 for six.

Leverock marked his return to the line-up by picking up where he left off last season. Last year's top wicket taker returned impressive figures of three for ten runs from only four overs while 15 year-old seamer Anthony Hayward grabbed one for 22 and Robinson, uncharacteristically bowling spin, two for 14 off only 3.1 overs.

Hurdle had one for 28 while skipper Steede was tidy in the field by holding onto three fine catches.

The last four Social Club bats tumbled for only 37 runs as Stars romped home to victory at 5.19 p.m.