White Hill Field (Warwick won toss): Warwick beat Somerset Bridge by ten runs

Guest player Delray Rawlins and Malachi Jones picked up three wickets each as Warwick took the Western Counties Cup from Somerset Bridge in a rain-affected match on Saturday.

Rawlins, who was voted MVP, took three for 17 with his left-arm spin while Jones, who bowled a mix of spin and seam, recorded figures of three for 16 as Bridge were bowled out for 80 in 23.4 overs. Guest player Steven Bremar Jr was the top scorer for Bridge with 20.

After Rawlins led Warwick with a run-a-ball 33, as his side posted 187 in 45.3 overs, rain started to fall and by the time the game restarted, enough play had been lost for Bridge’s amended target via average run-rate to be set at 91 from 24 overs.

“I tried to have some fun, really,” Rawlins told The Royal Gazette.

“We knew we had a pretty strong team, but the conditions earlier on were a little bit difficult to bat. I had to take my opportunities to score; luckily, a few came out through the middle and we were able to get a decent total.

“With the rain coming, the total gets reduced and we were pretty confident that we could defend the 90 runs, and the boys bowled really well.

“We were thinking about bowling dot balls. We knew that if we built the pressure and when the big hitters came in we held on to our catches, which we did, then we were in with a chance.”

Jones spoke of what it meant to be the team holding the trophy until it is contested again next season.

“It’s a big thing for the club and the community seeing that this is one of the trophies they've been longing for,” the 36-year-old said.

“We got hard done by in the final two years ago, so we were hoping it wasn't going to be a repeat of what happened last time with the rain situation. For us to defend 90 in 24 overs was excellent. I bowled whatever was required; sometimes pace on, sometimes pace off to certain batters.

“The medium pace worked, I got Allan Douglas Jr running in a bit. Spin was to the younger batsmen and pace was for the seasoned guys.”

Warwick struggled to put runs on the board after opting to take first strike. Jones was run out in the third over, followed by Luke Horan and Tre Manders, who were both dismissed by Khymai Richards in the seventh over.

Rawlins and Zeri Tomlinson had the best partnership when they put together 62 for the fourth wicket.

Tomlinson went for 29 and Luke Fulton chipped in with 32, the second-highest score before he was bowled by guest player Douglas, who finished with three for 23. Leg spinner Callum McIntosh had three for 43.

Bridge’s opening partnership was breached in the fifth over when Shawn Riley was bowled by Staphen Dill.

McIntosh came in and contributed 17 to the team’s cause before Rawlins had him leg-before. New batter Samir Tavares was bowled for a five-ball duck at the end of the same over.

With Bridge needing 46 to win, Jones got the big wicket of Douglas, who was brilliantly caught by Manders at deep mid-wicket for eight. Manders also had a superb take for Rawlins to get Bremar out in the penultimate over.

Horan ended the match with two balls left as 14-year-old colt Henrik McIntosh was caught at mid-on by captain Cory Burgess.

The Warwick captain was delighted that things went their way after losing by five wickets to Willow Cuts in a rain-affected 2023 final.

“It feels great for us to win after losing this way two years ago,” Burgess said.

“We had a good total then rain came and we had to defend a low score. Unfortunately, we didn't. Now fast-forward to two years later, rain came and we had to defend 90 in 24 overs.

“At first I was a bit nervous because they had the likes of Allan Douglas Jr and Steven Bremar, but I wasn't really worried after we got one or two wickets.

“Excellent bowling and fielding — Delray Rawlins, Malachi Jones and Luke Horan bowled really well. It was an excellent, all-round team performance.”

Adrian Burrows, the Bridge captain, stated that he would have rather pursued the original target set by Warwick.

“It was a hard loss for us to lose by ten runs,” he said.

“But in the end, we had a young team. We had a 14-year-old out there playing, so for what we had, we put on a good show under the circumstances.

“We had a few guys abroad and one of our players got sick, so at one point we were missing four players.

“I would have preferred chasing the bigger score. Unfortunately, we had a rain delay and the target was revised and we fell short.

“With lower scores, the mentality shifts but we should have still approached it a little bit differently.”