Wellington Oval(St George’s won toss): St David’s beat St George’s by three wickets

Sammy Robinson hailed his side’s resilience after St David’s battled their way to victory over area rivals St George’s.

Chasing a total of 194, in which Onias Bascome top-scored with a solid knock of 55 from 76 balls, St David’s looked in danger a little over the halfway stage of their allotted overs, sitting on 117 with just three wickets intact.

However, a crucial partnership between Derrick Brangman (35 not out) and George O’Brien Jr (38 not out) saw the pair bat out another 17 overs to guide the team to victory, with the former capping the dogged display in style, smashing a match-winning six.

“We found ourselves in some sticky situations and one point we were falling behind, but the guys stuck with it and some crucial partnerships got us over the line,” the St David’s assistant coach said.

“We set up the batting line-up in the way that we did to keep some experience until later on and thankfully it all worked out in the end.

“We had a blip last week against Rangers, but we’ve come back this week and made it right. Going forward we’ve still got a lot to improve on, but if we do that I can’t see why we can’t finish inside the top two; that’s the expectation.”

Having elected to bat, St George’s openers Temiko Wilson (20) and Allan Douglas Jr got off to a steady start, putting 38 runs on the board before the latter was bowled by O’Brien midway through the fifth over.

Wilson was caught off the bowling of Cejay Outerbridge with the first ball of the eighth over with the score at 49 for two, before Bascome joined Rodney Trott (20) and took the hosts to two runs shy of 100 before the latter fell victim to Derrick Brangman midway through the 24th over.

Bascome reached his half-century opposite Treadwell Gibbons Jr, before being bowled by OJ Pitcher with the score at 133 for four and was soon followed by Macai Simmons (six), caught behind off Justin Pitcher a further nine runs added to the total in three overs.

After Gibbons (23) also fell victim to the bowling of Derrick Brangman midway through the 37th over with the score on 160 for six, wickets began to tumble at regular intervals with only one of the remaining batsmen managing to reach double figures.

Detroy Smith (six) came and went in the space of three overs as Derrick Brangman completed his three-wicket haul, with Shaq Darrell (eight) just an over more, leaving the score at 179 for eight at the start of the 44th over.

Sinclair Smith (12) put up a little resistance before being caught off the bowling of Justin Pitcher an over later, with Rohan Richards (six) being the last wicket, just three balls later, bowled by OJ Pitcher.

The St David’s reply got off to the worst possible start as opener Ajuan Lamb was dismissed with the first ball caught off the bowling of Detroy Smith.

OJ Pitcher joined Dean Simons (six) at the crease with the pair steadying the innings somewhat, reaching the end of the eighth over before the latter was trapped leg-before by Douglas to reduce St David’s to 31 for two.

Pitcher and Ricardo Brangman formed a strong partnership, lasting 13 overs and taking the score past 85 before momentum swung back in St George’s favour when Bascome claimed two wickets in three balls.

First he broke the partnership, getting Pitcher leg-before for 43, with new batsmen Loren Marshall facing only two balls before being caught by Trott without scoring and leaving the visiting side 89 for four.

Crucial wickets continued to fall with Ricardo Brangman (38) finally departing at the end of the 24th over, caught and bowled by Douglas, with captain Justin Pitcher (11) run out by Bascome, and Kameron Fox (0) also caught and bowled by Douglas, departing less than four overs later to leave St David’s struggling at 117 for seven.

However, just as St George’s were sensing victory, Derrick Brangman and O’Brien came to the fore, doggedly reaching 150 at the end of the 35th over, before taking their team to within 18 runs to victory with seven overs remaining.

A further five runs were chalked off in the next over before Brangman took it upon himself to end the match in style, smashing Darrell for six off the second ball of the next over to spark wild celebrations among the St David’s bench.

St George’s

T Wilson c R Brangman b Outerbridge 20

A Douglas b G O’Brien 24

R Trott c Outerbridge b D Brangman 20

*O Bascome b O Pitcher 55

T Gibbons c I O’Brien b D Brangman 23

M Simmons c R Brangman b J Pitcher 6

D Smith c Outerbridge b D Brangman 6

†S Smith c R Brangman b J Pitcher 12

S Darrell run out 8

R Richards b O Pitcher 6

A Cannonier not out 0

Extras (lb 5, nb 1, w 7) 13

Total (45.1 overs) 193

J Carlington did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-49, 3-98, 4-133, 5-142, 6-160, 7-167, 8-179, 9-193.

Bowling: G O’Brien 10-2-40-1; Outerbridge 10-3-34-1; D Brangman 10-0-28-3; Ball 2-0-19-0; J Pitcher 8-0-44-2; O Pitcher 5.1-0-23-2.

St David’s

A Lamb c Simmons b Smith 0

D Simons lbw b Douglas 6

O Pitcher lbw b Bascome 43

†R Brangman c and b Douglas 38

L Marshall c Trott b Bascome 0

D Brangman not out 35

*J Pitcher run out 11

K Fox c and b Douglas 0

G O’Brien not out 38

Extras (b 1, lb 2, w 21) 24

Total (7 wkts, 45.2 overs) 195

I O’Brien and C Outerbridge did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-31, 3-88, 4-89, 5-105, 6-117, 7-117.

Bowling: Smith 8-0-49-1; Douglas 10-5-22-3; Trott 8-3-24-0; Gibbons 3-0-20-0; Simmons 4-0-23-0; Bascome 10-0-43-2; Darrell 2.2-0-11-0.

Umpires: E Carrington and A Cumberbatch.