Warwick 141; Southampton Rangers 143 for two

A youthful Warwick side fielding four colts proved no match for the might of Western Counties champions Southampton Rangers at Southampton Oval on Saturday.

After restricting the challengers under the 150 run mark, Rangers cruised to a comfortable eight-wicket victory with 24.2 overs to spare.

Leading the hosts’ victory charge were spin duo Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock — celebrating his 36th birthday with twin sister Dawn also present at the ground — and guest player Derek Brangman who both tormented the Warwick batsmen on a pitch offering favourable bounce.

Left-arm spinner Leverock produced a magical 10-over spell that yielded remarkable figures of four for 14 and also included four maidens — two of which were maiden wickets — bowling unchanged from the southern end of the ground. And in young off spinner Brangman, who returned equally impressive figures of three for 11 off only 3.1 overs of work, Leverock found a good ally.

Veteran off-break spinner Olin Jones was the other Rangers bowler achieving success with the ball with figures of two for 38 respectively.

In reply, elder statesmen Curtis Jackson broke free of a scoring slump by clubbing 48 off 57 balls in a knock containing seven fours while fellow veterans Keith Wainwright (38) and Stevie Lightbourne (29 not out) also saw to it that Rangers would not be denied a victory that always seemed theirs for the taking once Warwick had been dismissed in the 43rd over for a total that was always going to be difficult to defend on the Oval’s short boundaries.

Jackson and Wainwright provided the champions with a solid platform from which to build a winning total by adding 77 runs for the first-wicket before Lightbourne and Somerset Cup Match hopeful Brangman (12 not out) came together at the crease and put paid to all Warwick hopes. Their unbroken 40-run third-wicket partnership was highlighted by some forceful strokeplay on both sides of the wicket and the occasional exquisite thrust through the cover region.

“Basically our openers dominated with the bat and gave us a good start for Stevie and Derek to come in later and finish it off,” a sun-baked Leverock said after being presented with the coveted trophy. “Our fielding wasn’t up to par but it was still a great day for the team.”

Colts Joshua Butler and Jamal Woodley claimed the only two Rangers wickets to fall for 28 and 36 runs respectively to open their Western Counties bowling accounts.

Earlier, Leverock, perhaps making his final Western Counties appearance for the summer, brought himself into his team’s attack in the 20th over and immediately applied the brakes by bowling three consecutive maidens before seizing the prized wicket of Warwick skipper Kion Butterfield, who banged 40 runs off 56 balls during an attractive innings spiced with eight boundaries to lead his team’s resistance.

Having made the crucial breakthrough to force the challengers on the back foot, Leverock continued his one-man assault by adding the wickets of Lamar Caines (one), Romar Simmons (one) and veteran batsman Perry Scott (17) to complete another dazzling performance with the ball.

“It was a good one-day wicket and if you gave the ball a bit of flight it would bounce a bit,”the veteran craftsman said. “You just had to use guile and try and out think the batsmen.”

Jones also held his end of the bargain by bowling Johnny Ball (10) in the 17th over and having former national team batsman Daniel Morgan (five) caught at mid-on four overs later before Leverock and Brangman came into the attack and stole the show.

After Leverock had removed Warwick’s middle order to give Rangers the impetus, all- rounder Brangman took the sting out of the visitor’s tail by claiming the wickets of colts Butler (nine) and Woodley (0) in his third over before taking a catch of his own bowling to dismiss last man Jade Darrell (19) with the first ball of his fourth to signal the end to Warwick’s turn at the crease.

“We had a good start but did not go on from there. Rangers bowled tight and we got out to some poor shot selection — myself included,” commented Warwick stalwart Morgan.

“But we have a young team and this is all a part of the learning process. So hopefully the youngsters will learn from the experience and continue to grow from strength to strength.”