T20 Champions St David’s Warriors recovered from a disappointing loss on Saturday to beat Eastern Counties rivals Bailey’s Bay by four runs in a low-scoring but entertaining match at Sea Breeze Oval on Sunday.

With Bay needing 14 runs to win, St David’s captain Derrick Brangman took matters into his own hands to bowl the last over. After nine runs in five balls, including a six with the penultimate ball of the match to leave Bay needing four runs to tie or six to win, Jermain Usher swung for the hills only to miss the slow ball completely to hand St David’s the nail-biting win.

“It was a difficult match today,” said Brangman. “The wicket was awful as you can tell by the low scores. We only scored 88 but we knew we had a chance to win based on the state of the wicket.”

Bay’s decision to send St. David’s into bat paid immediate dividends as Kyle Hodsoll claimed a wicket on the first and last ball of the second over. He first bowled Justin Pitcher for a golden duck and then enticed Dean Simons to fly out to Terryn Fray, who took a good overhead catch while running sideways, which left St. David’s reeling at seven for the loss of two wickets.

Veterans OJ Pitcher and Ricardo Brangman added some stability to the St David’s innings as the batters had a hard time adjusting to a difficult and choppy wicket, especially at the Club end where the ball stayed very low.

The two batted cautiously to put on a 28-run third-wicket partnership before the latter edged a catch to Sharye Tavares off left-arm medium pacer Dennico Hollis for 13 runs.

St. David’s had scored only 38 runs at the halfway stage.

Such was the difficulty in the batting strip that captain Brangman would hit the first six of the innings, which landed on the bank near to the scoreboard, in the fourteenth over.

OJ Pitcher was the only St David’s batter to look comfortable but he retired hurt with a quadriceps injury at the end of the fifteenth over after scoring a team-high 19 runs and with his team on 59. He would not return in the match.

Captain Brangman was run out without adding to the score when Brian Hall called for a cheeky single. Hall dispatched Hodsoll over the long on boundary for six before having his stumps shattered the very next ball for 17 as the defending champions would limp to a below-par 88 for seven in their allotted 20 overs. Hodsoll was the pick of the Bay bowlers with three for 21.

In reply, Bay opened with Terryn Fray and Coolidge Durham needing 4.45 runs an over and they would put on an opening partnership of 22 runs before Durham skied to Hall at mid off.

Tavares would join Fray but had a short stay when he had his off stump knocked back by Hall. Bay Club president Stephen Outerbridge came and went without troubling the score as he was bowled middle stump by Hall.

Bay were 37 for three at the halfway mark making the match evenly poised.

Macai Young was introduced on the ball and had Azende Furbert edge one, which wicketkeeper Ricardo Brangman held onto at the second attempt.

Young changed ends and claimed Bay captain Rodney Trott on his very first ball, breaking his stumps to put the host in a spot of bother at 51 for five.

Running out of recognised batters, Fray tried to push the score along and launched one high but not far enough as he was caught a few feet from the long off boundary by Young for a game-high 26 and when Hollis was stumped the very next ball, it was game on as Bay were now struggling at 56 for seven.

Fray’s wicket opened the door for a landslide of wickets. Hodsoll was bowled to become Brangman’s third wicket as Bay would lose their eighth wicket with only 62 runs on the board.

Usher and bowler Macquille Walker tried to carry Bay across the line and would put on a 13-run partnership, needing 14 runs to win with an over to go. Walker was run out first ball trying to sneak a single but both batters where left stranded at the bowler’s end, which allowed captain Brangman to throw the ball to wicketkeeper brother Ricardo to dislodge the bails.

La Zai Outerbridge then joined Usher for the remainder of the over. With Usher hitting a six, Bay needed four to tie and a six to win off the last ball but no contact gave Warriors the victory.

Derrick Brangman was the pick of the Warriors bowlers with three for 18. Hall and Young claimed two wickets apiece for 19 and 12 runs respectively.