Somerset CC (Warwick won toss): Southampton beat Warwick by eight wickets

Southampton Rangers cruised to an emphatic triumph over Warwick Workmen’s Club in a lopsided Twenty20 contest at Somerset Cricket Club yesterday.

Set a target of 79, Rangers raced to victory in seven overs with opening batsman Ricardo Brangman leading the run chase with a dashing 32 from 14 balls and No 3 batsman Alec Dore smashing an equally robust 27 from 15 deliveries.

Warwick struck early when former Rangers player Steffan Dill trapped Dean Stephens lbw in the second over of the innings.

But any thoughts Warwick had of making further inroads were cruelly dashed as Brangman added 48 runs for the second wicket with Dore to keep Rangers, last season’s beaten T20 finalists, firmly on course.

Brangman, who was dropped by Dill at long on off the first ball of the innings, departed in the fifth over when he played down the wrong line to give Dill his second wicket. Brangman struck three sixes and two boundaries.

Dore then took over from, smashing the ball to all parts of the ground with some heavy hitting as he and Curtis Jackson carried Rangers across the line with 13 overs to spare.

Dill finished with two for 30.

Earlier, cousins Stephens and Lamont Brangman claimed six wickets between them as Warwick found runs hard to come by after electing to bat.

Early-order pair Dill (21) and Shanori Boyles (10) were the only Warwick batsmen in double figures as wickets fell throughout the innings at regular intervals.

Brangman, who has joined Rangers from Devonshire Recreation Club, led the Rangers attack with three for 14, while cousin Stephens, who returned to his childhood club from Willow Cuts, took three for 24.

Vernon Eve claimed two for eight with left-arm spin.

Rangers’ comfortable victory was slightly marred by a heated verbal exchange between wicketkeeper-batsman Brangman and a spectator in the first innings.

“I’m pleased overall,” Ricky Brangman, the Rangers coach, said. “The bowling was good, the fielding was good and the batting was good — even though I felt we shouldn’t have lost those two wickets.”

Warwick

S Dill stwk b Brangman 21

M Burch c Smith b Brangman 7

S Boyles c Armstrong b Brangman 10

D Shakir c Kevin Tucker b Eve 9

J Beach b Stephens 3

† D Adams b Brangman 1

A Ible cwk Brangman b Kevin Tucker 2

A Burgess lbw Stephens 5

K Butterfield lbw Stephens 0

W Jones not out 8

K Darrell not out 1

Extras (1b, 1lb, 8w, 1nb) 11

Total (9 wickets, 20 overs) 78

Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-34, 3-48, 4-51, 5-52, 6-55, 7-60, 8-60, 9-78

Bowling: Stephens 4-1-24-3; Kevin Tucker 4-0-19-1; Brangman 4-0-14-3; Wellman 4-0-17-0; Eve 4-0-8-2.

Southampton

†R Brangman b Dill 32

D Stephens cwk Adams b Dill 1

A Dore not out 27

C Jackson not out 4

*Kwame Tucker, I Armstrong, M Wellman, Kevin Tucker, L Brangman, T Smith, V Eve: did not bat

Extras (1b, 2lb, 12w) 15

Total (2 wickets, 7 overs) 79

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-51.

Bowling: Dill 3-0-30-2; Darrell 3-0-32-0; Beach 1-0-14-0.

Umpires: R Dill, E Carrington.