North Field,National Sports Centre (Pembroke Panthers won toss): Sandys Spartans beat Pembroke Panthers by 33 runs

Kamau Leverock produced a man-of-the-match display as his Sandys Spartans got their Bermuda Smash Invitational campaign started with a comfortable victory over Pembroke Panthers in a match reduced to eight overs because of rain yesterday.

The all-rounder belted five sixes and four fours in an unbeaten knock of 53 from 27 balls to record the first fifty of the tournament.

Leverock also added 66 for the first wicket with wicketkeeper Chad Bowes (22) and 38 with Delray Rawlins (27 not out) in an unbroken second-wicket stand as Jeff Richardson’s team capitalised on loose bowling and field placement to bat the opposition out of the match.

“Basically, it was about trying to maximise every ball and if you don’t maximise the ball at least try to get one,” Leverock said. “Luckily, I had Chad out there talking to me and he was just giving me encouragement.”

The player also held his own in the field, claiming one of 15 with his seam bowling and grabbing two catches to cap a superb all-round display and deservedly walk away with the man-of the-match accolades.

“What I’ve learnt from playing around the world is that when you’re having a good day you ride it,” Leverock said.

“So after the first innings, I just thought I’d bowl the first over and see how it goes. I got the overseas player out and we just rolled on from there.”

Leverock let his intentions be known from the outset as he smashed the first ball he faced straight down the ground for six, the first of the tournament, to set the tone for the rest of his innings.

He upped the tempo in the second over by dispatching three fours off Zeko Burgess, who went for a costly 13 runs in the only over he sent down, as the Spartans scored 21 runs in the powerplay.

Leverock then shifted into overdrive in the next over as he hammered two sixes, including one off the back foot over the deep point boundary, and brought up his team’s fifty with a cheeky reverse sweep to the vacant third man boundary.

The left-hander also rode his luck after offering a chance that just evaded the fielder at backward square leg on the way across the rope for another maximum.

The opening partnership was finally broken in the sixth over when Bowes was comfortably grabbed on the deep mid-wicket boundary attempting another big hit off the bowling of Panthers captain Dominic Sabir.

That brought Rawlins to the crease and he hit the first ball he faced over the boundary for six.

Leverock reached his fifty, off 23 balls, in style in the penultimate over with a perfectly timed paddle shot that beat the wicketkeeper and the fielder running around from third man to the boundary.

Rawlins took over from there, belting two sixes and as many fours to carry his team past 100 to a total that proved beyond the opposition’s reach.

“We always knew it was going to be a shortened match and knew we would have to go from the start, but we weren’t reckless about it,” said Spartans coach Richardson.

“It was very calculated and I thought the guys approached the game in the right manner and batted them out of the game by scoring over a hundred.

“Last year, there was a joke going around that we had three professionals and none of them showed up, but they showed up today.

“All you need is one person to have a really good innings and we had a couple and didn’t h ave to go deep into our batting as well, so it was a good day.”

Sabir was the pick of the Panthers bowling with one for 20 and Jermal Proctor their costliest having gone for 24 in his one over.

The Panthers had their work cut out for them with an asking rate of 13 runs per over and never really got going at the crease. Spartans made an early breakthrough in the first over when overseas player Jamel Todd (five) was stumped by Bowes off the bowling of Leverock.

Richardson’s team then squandered two opportunities to tighten the noose in the third over as Jeavor Royal was put down at mid-off and again at backward point.

However, they stuck to the task and were celebrating again when Tre Manders (11) holed out at long-off,

Royal (23) was held at mid-off and Zeko Burgess (two) caught down the ground in successive overs to leave Panthers wobbling at 48 for four after six overs.

With the game all but lost, Charles Trott (18 not out) entertained the crowd with some fireworks before the overs ran out. Second-change Rawlins claimed two for 14 with his left-arm orthodox to lead the Spartans attack and cap a fine all-round display of his own, with Panthers coach Cal Waldron blaming bad bowling for his team’s demise.

“We had some bad overs where we bowled bad and they capitalised on it,” he said. “We just didn’t bowl in the right areas or the proper balls for an eight-over contest.”

As for his team’s run chase, Waldron said: “We knew what we were up against when it came to scoring runs as much as possible so it was always a struggle.

“We were up against 104 runs but we just didn’t score as fluently or as many boundaries as they did. They bowled well and credit to them.”