White Hill Field (East won toss): East All-Stars beat West All-Stars by 127 runs

Sharye Tavares shone with bat and ball to lead the East to a dominant victory in the Western Counties All-Star Game yesterday.

The Bailey’s Bay all-rounder made a solid 29 runs from as many balls, then returned to take five wickets with his off spin in a rain-affected encounter.

The East, captained by Tavares, win the toss and elected to bat, after the match was initially delayed by 45 minutes owing to rain the previous evening. It was shortened to 40 overs per side initially.

West made a strong start to the match, which was reduced initially to 40 overs a side because of overnight rain, despite opener Ankoma Cannonier smacking a six off the first ball. But on the next ball, Somerset Bridge stalwart Noel Woods got him to edge straight to Kamau Leverock at first slip.

North Village veteran Derwin Adams was dropped by PHC newcomer Koshun Durrant on six, but would later be run out after by an excellent throw from Cadence Douglas at long-off.

PHC youngster Dionte Dowling thought he trapped Drewonde Bascome leg-before on the fifth ball of his second over, but umpire Precious Smith dismissed his claims.

A terrible spell of bowling between the tenth and fourteenth overs saw 49 runs conceded by pace bowlers Durrant, Trey Vance and Marcus Johnson, but four wickets also fell in an action-paced sequence. Vance took two in an eleventh over that yielded 15 runs.

A rain delay of 1hr 42min forced the game to be further reduced to 32 overs.

The East continued to punish the poor fielding and bowling of the host team, and reached 144 for six at the only drinks break. This was evident when PHC’s Ori Wilson dropped two catches on the mid-wicket boundary to give Drewonde Bascome further life. He and wicketkeeper Cofield Robinson put on 117 runs off 84 balls for the seventh wicket before the latter was out five runs shy of his half-century.

Bascome himself reached fifty off 36 balls, and closed on 77 off 58 balls, including eight towering sixes. He ultimately fell the victim to a leaping catch by Vance on the mid-wicket boundary off Leverock.

Tailender Lorenzo Simmons piled on the pressure in the closing overs with seven fours in an unbeaten 36 from 23 balls at No 10.

The West, who conceded a sloppy 28 wides among extras, knew they faced a big task to overcome their under-par fielding performance, needing 260 to win at more than eight an over.

Somerset Bridge regular Niel Thakur and Wilson opened the batting for the West, and the latter was first back to the pavilion when he was taken via a reflex catch by Shaquille Pitcher at silly mid-on when trying to flick a ball around his pads. Thakur went three balls later, on the fifth ball of the second over by Tavares, via a thick outside edge to Bascome at first slip.

While Ajani Lee persevered over a 56-ball 41, wickets continued to fall at regular intervals for the West, who lost Charles Trott and Kyle Brangman in Tavares’s third over. They were 31 for four after the adjusted seven-over powerplay.

Leverock, after hitting two sixes, was bowled 24 by Kiearon Trott, of Bailey’s Bay, while Marcus Johnson edged to wicketkeeper Robinson when he had made 22.

Durrant’s disappointing day continued when he played right to Adams at mid-wicket to give Pitcher his first scalp, while Vance was also caught by Adams after hitting a four and a six.

Woods nicked to Robinson, Pitcher’s second wicket, to complete a resounding result for the East.