Lord’s (St David’s won toss): Bailey’s Bay beat St David’s by 19 runs

Delray Rawlins smashed an unbeaten 83 off 39 balls, picked up two wickets and took a decisive catch to power Bailey’s Bay into the T20 Premier Division Knockout final with victory over St David’s yesterday.

The left-hander, who batted at No 3, hammered six fours and seven sixes as Bay posted 185 for three in their 20 overs. In-form opener Coolidge Durham scored a run-a-ball 51, while captain Terryn Fray contributed 32 off 19 balls.

Rawlins went on to record figures of two for 23, with Kyle Hodsoll picking up four for 13 as St David’s were restricted to 166 for seven to suffer their first defeat of the season.

“We needed a response from last week,” Rawlins, the former Bermuda captain, told The Royal Gazette.

“Last week we struggled, we didn’t score the runs we wanted to score and didn’t bowl as well as we wanted to. We knew we needed to respond, as it’s a knockout game and there’s a trophy to be won, so we were happy with our performance.

“We worked hard, applied ourselves and it paid off. When I went out to bat, all I wanted to do was to see the ball and hit it. I knew it was important to get a score to help us to win, and I’m thankful that I could contribute to a victory.

“It was nice to pick up some wickets and play a part in the win.”

St David’s captain Derrick Brangman, who led his side with 46 runs, expressed his disappointment at falling at the semi-final stage for a second consecutive season.

“It’s unfortunate St David’s cannot win in the knockout,” he said.

“We did the same thing last year. We won the First Division and then lost to Willow Cuts in the semi-finals. We just have to get over the hurdle and hopefully, next year we can win both trophies.”

Brangman felt that the absence of Onias Bascome, who is injured, and the off-island Tre Manders left big voids to fill in the St David’s batting order.

“It was a good game of cricket from both teams,” Brangman said.

“Both teams batted well but unfortunately, we came out short in the powerplay. Even with the ball, we struggled in the powerplay; Bay got a good start and we never did.

“Bay just came to play, we were missing a couple of guys and that made a big difference in our batting line-up. We actually had more bowlers than batters, so to score 166 was commendable.”

Meeting a week after clashing at Sea Breeze Oval in an encounter St David’s won by three wickets, Fray and Durham gave Bay a solid start.

Fray thumped five fours and a six before he was dismissed by Aaron Paynter, with the Bermuda captain caught by Justin Pitcher in the sixth over.

Durham, scorer of 73 runs in the previous encounter, was joined by Rawlins at the crease and the duo displayed some brutal batting as they both raced to their respective half-centuries.

While Durham fell to Brangman shortly after reaching fifty, Rawlins never slowed down. The left-hander took 21 runs off the penultimate over bowled by Pitcher to guide Bay to a commanding total.

Marcus Scotland and Dean Simons endured a nervy start in the St David’s run chase, with Scotland dropped on ten by Macquille Walker off Hodsoll’s bowling.

However, Hodsoll had his man for 17 in his next over as Rodney Trott provided safe hands after the opener skied the ball.

Rawlins then had Simons and Ricardo Brangman caught behind by Jarryd Richardson off consecutive balls in the seventh over to peg St David’s back.

While the required run-rate kept ballooning, Isaiah O’Brien and Brangman delivered some big shots to keep the home side in the hunt.

Sharye Tavares broke that partnership when he dismissed O’Brien for 40, with Walker taking the catch in the deep.

Three balls later, Rawlins produced some fine fielding when Brangman looked to clear the boundary off Hodsoll’s bowling.

Hodsoll’s bowling at the death proved to be on point as he picked up two wickets in the eighteenth over. The swing bowler cleaned up Sa-Qui Robinson for a first-ball duck before getting a leg-before decision against Kevon Fubler with the next ball.