Cleveland County are still in with a slim chance of avoiding automatic relegation after they squeezed out a two-wicket victory over Somerset in a bottom-of-the-table clash at Wellington Oval yesterday.

Cleveland bounced back from their dismal batting performance in the Eastern Counties the day before to record their second straight win in the Premier Division after dismissing Somerset for 153 in 44 overs. They replied with 154 for eight after an unbeaten ninth-wicket stand of 37 between Damali Bell and Brandon Trott rescued them from 117 for eight.

The match hung in the balance when captain Dennis Musson Jr departed on 86 for seven, but Keishon Smith and Steven Bremar steadied things with knocks of 20 apiece before Bell and Trott saw them over the line. Trott, a former Bailey’s Bay player who joined Cleveland this season, came in at No 10 and dominated the stand with Bell (8 not out), hitting four fours and a six in his 28 as Cleveland pulled off victory.

Cleveland won with 6.2 overs remaining after Trott hit Azar Morrissey for a six and then a four to square leg off successive balls in the first two balls of Morrissey’s third over. Earlier, opener Treadwell Gibbons scored 23 while Temiko Wilson added 17 at No 3.

Somerset kept the match evenly poised with two key run-outs, first Marcus Johnson dismissing Gibbons with a direct hit at the bowler’s end after Gibbons played the ball to him at mid-on and went for a quick single. Then Najiyah Raynor was run out for six after a mid-up with Keishon Smith left Joshua Gilbert with the easy task of throwing to wicketkeeper Reid Jones from cover point.

After that, Cleveland batsmen Smith, Bremar, Bell and Trott batted sensibly to secure only their second league win. It gives them hope of moving off the bottom when they take on Western Stars in their final match next weekend. Somerset, 24 points ahead of Cleveland going into the weekend matches, face Southampton Rangers in their last game.

“We’re proud of the guys today, it was a good toss to win but unfortunately we lost it again,” Musson said. “It wasn’t a good weekend for tosses but today we got the job done, the bowlers bowled well.

“We struggled a little bit in the batting but Brandon Trott, a new player, came in and had a good knock. With the ever reliable Damali Bell they played it straight and played it simple and got the job done.

“That’s two wins in a row, now we have a slight chance of avoiding straight relegation. We’ll try to win again next weekend and force ourselves into the play-offs. It’s there for the taking and we’ll fight hard. Yesterday [Counties] was disappointing but that’s behind us now and we’re going forward.”

Four Somerset bowlers took two wickets each, with Micah Simons finishing with two for 17 from six overs, Isaiah Richardson two for 13 from five and Joshua Gilbert and captain Jordan DeSilva both taking two for 30 off their ten overs.

Earlier, Somerset also offered some late resistance in their batting after Cleveland had them reeling at 65 for seven.

Justin Corday, batting at No 9, finished high man with 43 while Richardson scored 18 and Simons 14 not out. Corday and Richardson put on 52 for the eighth wicket before Corday and Simons then added 30 for the ninth wicket.

Musson led the Cleveland bowlers with three for 34 off his ten overs while Bremar took three for 36 off ten. Bell had two for 39 and Gibbons two for 15, both from nine overs.