North Field, National Sports Centre (Sandys won toss): Sandys Spartans beat Smith’s Sixers by four wickets

Delray Rawlins hammered 70 runs off 26 balls and Chad Bowes rode his luck with 65 from 36 to power Sandys Spartans to a third win in a row in the Bermuda Smash Invitational.

Opener Bowes hit11 fours and one six while Rawlins, the player of the match, stroked two fours and eight sixes. The two were instrumental in Spartans scoring 217 for six in 18.3 overs to win the high-scoring contest with nine balls to spare.

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On a day when some serious hitting was witnessed from the two teams, Sixers captain Onias Bascome had earlier attempted to steal the show with three fours and ten sixes in his brutal 74, off just 19 balls, while Malachi Jones contributed 68 to help their team post 211 for five after being asked to bat first.

“It’s nice to put on a performance for the team and get over the line chasing a big total,” Rawlins told The Royal Gazette. “It was nice to chase down a big total having set in our previous matches.

“It was great batting out there and I was having a lot of fun with Chad and then with Gerhard Erasmus. I just tried to apply my skill and I’m glad it came off.

“We knew it was a good wicket to bat on and if we applied ourselves properly, we could knock down the target. All the boys contributed, Kamau Leverock got 41 and Chad 65, then Erasmus came in with 20 at the end.

“We’ll look to carry the same mentality in the semi-finals and we know we have to win. We won’t change anything, we’re going to have the same approach and have fun. Hopefully we come out on top.”

Sixers coach Clevie Wade felt that if his side had been sharper in the field they could have picked up their first win of the tournament.

“I was really pleased that we scored a lot of runs because we have been struggling to put some runs on the board,” he said.

“If we had taken our chances, I think we would have capitalised. We just have to come back, play harder and this time take our chances.

“It happens in tournaments like this. You can be winless then come the semi-finals, you come back stronger and get into the final.

“It happened to us last year. We were undefeated, got into the final and then didn’t get over the line.”

Sixers suffered a blow when West Indies all-rounder Keemo Paul withdrew from the tournament after suffering a fractured jaw when he was hit by a delivery bowled by Zeko Burgess on Tuesday. He will be replaced by another international player for the play-offs.

“Keemo Paul had an operation and is going back home,” Wade said.

“We’ve got a replacement coming in from Trinidad on Friday. I understand it’s a bowling all-rounder so it’s a perfect replacement for Keemo.”

Sixers got their innings off to a slow start as Jones and Macai Simmons sought to preserve their wickets in the powerplay.

After losing his opening partner in the ninth over, Jones went after the Spartans bowling attack. He lined up Sharye Tavares for three consecutive sixes in the tenth over to reach his first fifty of the tournament.

Jones was dropped on 53 by Steven Bremar off Isaiah O'Brien’s bowling and went on to add 15 to the total before being run out.

Bascome smashed a six off the first ball he faced, which came from Erasmus, while Rawlins was thumped for two sixes and a four in the fourteenth over.

There was no mercy for O’Brien in the next over as the Bermuda batter scored 24 off his bowling, including three sixes and a four, as Bascome raced to his half-century off just 13 balls.

In the sixteenth over, Bascome belted Tavares for four sixes and a four in an over that went for 30 runs.

Kamau Leverock, the only Spartans bowler to walk away with decent figures, dropped Bascome on 74 off his own bowling but got his man with the next delivery as he trapped him in front.

Leverock had Justin Pitcher caught without scoring before he bowled Dalin Richardson in his last over to finish with three for 23.

During Spartans’ run chase, Bowes was given his first life on 13 in the third over when Pitcher dropped him at deep square leg off Jones’s bowling. The Spartans opener was also put down on 19 and 34, allowing him to get his first fifty of the tournament.

While Sixers were dropping catches, Bowes and Leverock were making sure they kept Spartans above the required run-rate. Leverock departed in the tenth over, dismissed by Yannic Cariah as substitute fielder Allan Douglas Jr showed his team-mates how to take catches.

Douglas took another catch in the deep, this time for Bowes to fall off Nial Smith’s bowling. Rawlins took control of the run chase with some serious hitting to reach his half-century in 20 balls.

Simmons conceded 18 runs in his last over as the former Bermuda captain hit him for two sixes in a row. Kevon Fubler was belted for three sixes in an over by his Bermuda team-mate, but the left-arm spinner had the last laugh, with Douglas picking up his third catch.

Smith nailed Erasmus, before he had Bremar and O’Brien caught in the same over to end up with four for 24. Alje Richardson calmed the nerves with a six in the nineteenth over to finish off the match.