Sea Breeze Oval (Devonshire Rec won toss): Bailey’s Bay beat Devonshire Rec by six wickets.

Champions Bailey’s Bay picked up their first win of the season with a six-wicket win over Premier newcomers Devonshire Rec at Sea Breeze Oval on Sunday — but not without a fright.

Set a generous 90 runs for victory, Bay endured a bad start when Shaquille Pitcher uprooted opener and captain Terryn Fray’s stumps with the very first ball of the chase.

Pitcher then claimed a wicket in each of his three consecutive overs to leave Bay reeling at three wickets down with only 24 runs on the board. Wicketkeeper Jarryd Richardson (20) featured in a 23-run fourth wicket partnership with Azende Furbert to bring some stability to the Bay innings but, his wicket, when caught at mid-off by Alafia Henry off the bowling of Jahzardae Samuels, gave the Rec some renewed hope.

A crucial 43-run, unbeaten fifth-wicket partnership between Azende Furbert (30) and Rodney Trott (14) carried Bay to victory with one over to spare. Pitcher, surprisingly did not finish his allotted overs, was the pick of the Rec. bowlers claiming 3 wickets for 26 runs from three overs with Samuels taking the only other wicket for 12 runs.

The victory brought some relief to one-ball Bay captain Fray. “This was probably our hardest game so far this season,” said Fray. “Coming off two losses and being the defending champions is not easy so it’s nice to get a win under our belt. Our batsmen are doing OK but the bowling is letting us down. Hopefully, going forward we can rectify these issues and have a more enjoyable season”.

Winning the toss and electing to bat, the Rec lost two quick wickets with only six runs on the board. Treadwell Gibbons Jr. who joined Drewonde Bascome, immediately went into aggressive mode with a straight drive off Kyle Hodsoll, which went over the eastern end sightscreen for six, hitting his family car in the process.

The two put on a valuable 31-run third wicket partnership with Bascome playing a supporting role before he was bowled by Rodney Trott trying to pull down the leg side.

Bay had the upper hand at the halfway mark with Rec only having 41 runs on the board. The Rec lost further wickets with veterans Allan Douglas and George O’Brien failing to trouble the score.

Freeman Lema then joined the in-form Gibbons and the two would bat patiently rotating the strike regularly to put on a team high 35-run, sixth-wicket partnership to carry the score to 81 to give some respectability to the scoreline.

Lema hit a low drive back at bowler Chadwayne Johnson striking him on his ankle which caused him to be carried off the field in pain. Fourth bowling change, Coolidge Durham had Gibbons stumped for a team high 35 with the score on 81.

Eight runs later, Lema, who started off a bit shaky, scored a valuable 22 before being caught by Furbert running from deep off the boundary off the bowling of Kyle Hodsoll.

The Rec then lost four wickets in the last two overs without adding to their score to be skittled out for 89. Bay used a total of six bowlers with openers Macquille Walker and Hodsoll claiming three wickets each for ten and twelve runs respectively. Rodney Trott assisted with two wickets for ten runs and Durham claiming the scalp of Gibbons for seven runs from his only over.

The game would have been a lot closer had the Rec not been so sloppy in the field with many overthrows and misfields going for extra runs as well as some indiscipline which proved decisive in the end.