Lord’s, St Davids’s (Flatts Victoria won toss): Bailey’s Bay beat Flatts Victoria by ten runs

Derrick Brangman produced his second heroic performance in a week to ensure Bailey’s Bay retained the Eastern Counties Cup after a thrilling low-scoring duel with Flatts Victoria on Saturday.

Less than a week after guiding St David’s to a one-wicket victory against Bay with an inspired batting display in the 50 overs Premier Division, Brangman scored 57 runs and took six wickets to lead Gus Logie’s side to what for long periods seemed like an unlikely victory.

Brangman’s effort with the bat was more than half the Bay total of 106, which was compiled in 27.3 overs, the low total largely down to inspired bowling by Flatts’s Kamau Leverock (five for 52), Kevin Hurdle (four for 43) and Keegan Jones (one for seven).

Leverock top scored with 22 for Flatts, who were bowled out for 96 in 31.2 overs, with Bay colt Michael Agard making an immediate impact by picking up three wickets for 45 runs.

“It feels good to retain the Eastern Counties for Bailey’s Bay,” Brangman told The Royal Gazette.

“The community supported us, they believed in us and we delivered. We didn’t bat well if you look at the scorecard, but I feel that we pulled it off in the field.

“Guys put the work in, diving all over the place and stopping balls. It’s how cricket is, you don’t score a lot of runs all the time and somebody had to step up.”

Terryn Fray, the Bay captain, was relieved to escape another scare against Flatts after Ryan Belboda’s side ran them close in the final last year.

“It happened last year so we’re getting used to it,” he said.

“We’re happy that we’re moving on to the next round and that’s what we’re focusing on. We’re a little disappointed with how we batted, but we were happy to come away with the win in the end.

“We definitely wanted to bowl first on that wicket. When we got sent in, the plan was to take it slow at the start then bat like it was a 40-over match.

“Our target was 140 and we didn't get that, so we knew we had to defend 106. We always bowl well and this track takes a lot of spin, so we knew the spinners would become a factor.”

Leverock could not hide his joy when Flatts captain Dajon Carey won the toss and opted to send Bay in on a green top. He ripped through Bay’s top order, removing openers Fray and Coolidge Durham, who both failed to trouble the scorer, and Azendé Furbert in his first two overs.

After Jarryd Richardson was trapped leg before by Leverock for a first-ball duck in the third over, Brangman arrived at the crease with the score at six for four and started to stabilise the innings with No 4 Delray Rawlins.

They took the score to 38 before Hurdle claimed the prize scalp of Rawlins, who was caught by guest player Amari Ebbin for 14. After losing his reliable batting partner, Brangman dominated the strike with only Agard hanging around for any significant period to score 18.

Brangman was the last wicket to fall as he became Leverock’s fifth and final victim when bowled with the third ball of the 28th over, as Flatts supporters ran on to the pitch to celebrate a fine bowling performance.

“The wicket was all over the place,” Brangman said.

“I couldn’t believe it when I went in to bat so early into our innings. When I went in I took my time, picked up the bad balls and took the singles.

“I was just trying to make sure that we got to 100.”

At the halfway stage it appeared that Flatts’ wait to get their hands on the Eastern Counties Cup for the first time in 43 years would come to an end, a premise that was given further credence when Ebbin made a steady start with a couple of boundaries in the first few overs.

But when he and his fellow opener Reggie Baker were removed by Agard, Flatts hopes were pinned on Leverock who played some good shots as he made his way into his twenties.

Leverock was given a life on seven runs when Agard put down a chance off Brangman’s bowling, but Brangman eventually got the prized wicket of the swashbuckling batter when Jordan Burgess made sure that the former Bermuda captain got no second chance.

When Carey departed for a duck and JJ Nel went for nine in the space of four overs, the Flatts fans would have started to get troubled.

Jermaine Clarke and the impressive Jones put on 31 for the sixth wicket to take the score for 75 for six and Flatts started to edge closer to the Bay total.

A poor piece of running between the wickets led to Shane Robinson being run out to leave the score at 89 for nine.

It was left to Brangman to lead the celebrations when colt Sai Kumar was caught at slip by Furbert to leave Flatts 11 short of their target.

“It was excellent bowling from Michael Agard and I,” Brangman added.

“The ball was turning and that’s what we wanted. We put the pressure on Flatts and they didn’t have a clue what was going on.

“They did have a good start and then we broke them. I think we were excellent in the field, we had one dropped catch but we ended up getting him a few overs later.”

Carey was disappointed by the batting department's failure to capitalise on a brilliant bowling display.

“It seems that we can’t put both sides of the game together,” the Flatts team leader said.

“I think it was a well-contested game. Our game plan was executed perfectly in the first half, but the second half didn't work out for us.

“We made a few bad decisions on the batting line-up and didn’t apply ourselves the way we should have.

“We’ll take our lessons from this. It’s a matter of getting over the hurdle and we should be good to go next time.”