Somerset Cricket Club (St George’s won toss): Somerset beat St George’s by 15 runs.

Jermal Proctor and captain Dominic Sabir starred with both bat and ball to end St George’s unbeaten start to the season with a 15-run victory at PHC Field on Sunday.

St George's won the toss and sent Somerset to bat. In the first over, Zeko Burgess and his team-mates vehemently appealed that Jahnoi Bean edged into the gloves of wicketkeeper and captain Sinclair Smith. However, umpire Precious Smith disregarded their protests.

The very next over, Shaki Darrell made a loud appeal for leg before to Proctor, but official Steven Caines said the ball was just travelling down leg stump.

Proctor and Bean were slowly rotating the strike with the odd boundary, before a lack of communication between the wickets saw Bean run out by Jonte Smith, as namesake Sinclair dislodged the bails.

Captain Dominic Sabir came to the crease aiming to propel the home side to a total they could defend, but a lack of urgency and good St George's fielding had Somerset far from satisfied at 32 for one at the end of the batting power play.

Sabir and Proctor continued to amble along at a slow rate, with Jonte and Isaiah Greaves keeping their line and length perfect to restrict them to mainly singles and the occasional four.

An expensive over by pace bowler Harshad Gadge, which went for 24 runs, allowed Proctor and Sabir to release the shackles and push into their groove. Gadge bowled three no-balls in that over, two to Sabir and the other to Proctor. Each batsman smashed a six off one of those high deliveries, while the other went unpunished. Gadge was quickly replaced in the bowling attack by Macai Simmons.

Greaves and Simmons returned to a confident second-wicket pair, who put on 109 runs from just 81 balls before Sabir was finally bowled by Darrell on the fifth ball of the 17th over. Proctor was dismissed two balls later by a faster delivery from Burgess, who later trapped Jade Morrissey leg before. Antonio Darrell and Amari Ebbin batted out the last few overs competently for Somerset to post 147 for four, giving the visitors slightly under 7.5 runs per over for victory.

Proctor led the Somerset response on 76 runs, with Sabir chipping in with 36. Zeko Burgess took two wickets for 20 in his four overs, with Darrell taking one for 22.

Somerset started aggressively in the field to get a head start to the St George's run chase, and Azar Morrissey dropped Jason Anderson at mid-wicket with the opener on one run. Morrissey made up for it on the very next ball, taking a lunging catch to dismiss Anderson.

Nzari Paynter was in at number three, and quickly back to the pavilion after Isaiah Richardson took a beautiful catch over his shoulder off the bowling of Proctor. Although Jonte and Macai Simmons played some good shots thereafter, St George's were reeling at 32 for two at the end of six overs.

Jonte and Simmons knew they had to find a way to swing the momentum with some boundaries, smashing three sixes in the few overs following the power play. They put on 70 off 49 balls for the third wicket. Azar Morrissey used the slower ball to get Jonte after he hit his two sixes, sliding the ball under the bat between middle and leg stumps.

St George's failed to hit a single boundary for 24 balls after the dismissal of Jonte. Player-coach Janeiro Tucker and captain Sabir took a wicket each in that period, removing Sinclair and Macai Simmons to leave the visitors on 82 for five after 13 overs.

An excellent cameo from Zeko Burgess supported by the steady Detroy Smith wasn't enough to propel St George's to the 148 required to win, thus Somerset took the spoils by 15 runs. Jonte led all scorers for the blue and blue with 37 runs, with Zeko Burgess making 34 and Macai Simmons 29. Proctor, Sabir and Antonio Darrell took two wickets apiece, with young Proctor the most economical.