Lord's, St David's (Bailey's Bay won toss): Cleveland County beat Bailey’s Bay by 61 runs

Off spinners Shaki Darrell and Dion Stovell picked up seven wickets between them for Cleveland to end the reign of Bailey’s Bay as Eastern Counties champions on Saturday.

Darrell, the MVP, secured four for 23, including the big scalps of Delray Rawlins and Tre Manders – with the former’s dismissal coming under controversial circumstances – while Stovell had three for 20 as Bay were swept away for 79 runs in 39.2 overs.

Left-arm spinner Derrick Brangman had earlier taken four for 33 to put Bay in a seemingly strong position after Cleveland were bundled out for 140 in 40.1 overs.

However, it was the decision by umpire Steven Caines to give out Rawlins caught on the first ball of the thirteenth over of Bay’s response that will be the biggest talking point of a hotly contested match.

The left-hander looked to smash a looping full toss from by Darrell over the leg-side boundary, but sliced to cover where Jason Anderson, running away from the wicket, appeared to take the catch before the ball became dislodged as he fell to the ground.

The controversy, which reduced Bay to 31 for four, led to a 20-minute delay as tempers flared, but upon resumption Cleveland piled on the pressure and completed a famous victory.

Having viewed the video footage of the incident, Stovell stated that his team-mate should have been honest.

“I feel the fielder should have been fair,” Stovell said.

“If I was in that situation, I would have told the umpire that the ball had bounced, like it did. If you look at the video, the ball did bounce off and hit the ground, I’m not sure if the umpire saw it or not; mistakes happen and we just have to live with it.”

Bay coach Gus Logie felt that the spirit of the game had been jeopardised by that decision. However, he was not pleased with the way his players conducted themselves during that heated moment.

“The integrity of the game was compromised at that stage when Delray was given out,” he said. “But there is no excuse for the behaviour that we saw. As coach of the team, it’s something that we spoke about before the game started.

“We made it clear that we didn’t want a repeat of what happened in Cup Match, and that we have to accept the decisions of the officials.

“People’s emotions sometimes get the better of them and they make poor judgments. In saying that, I do feel that 140 runs should have not been a challenge that we saw. But credit to Cleveland — they fought hard and they deserve their victory in the end.

“We trust that going forward, we’ll see improvement in all areas of the game. At the end of the day, we implore players to play the game in the right spirit; that’s all we can ask for.”

According to Darrell, it was a bit of karma from their first-round meeting last year when Rawlins got a call in his favour after appearing to glove a ball down the leg side against Mackih McGowan early in his innings before going on to score 138.

Bay went on to win by a resounding 142 runs.

“The umpire made a decision and we have to live with it,” Darrell said.

“That’s the same guy who got caught behind and there was a video going around showing that he edged the ball — he went on to score 138!

“He didn’t walk last year. He was on one or two, and went on to make a hundred. If you see the video from that match, it was clear as daylight that he edged the ball and should have walked.”

After being asked to bat first, Cleveland lost Anderson in the tenth over when he attempted to clear the square-leg boundary off Kyle Hodsoll’s bowling, but picked out Azendé Furbert.

Opener Treadwell Gibbons Jr hung around for 31, the highest contribution with the bat for Cleveland before he was stumped facing up to Rodney Trott. Allan Douglas Jr chipped in with 27 to what proved to be a winning total.

Brangman got help from Trott (two for 35) and Zeko Burgess (two for 36) to restrict Cleveland to what seemed an achievable target.

Coolidge Durham’s dismissal in the fourth over sparked a collapse for Bay. Terryn Fray followed in the seventh over when he was trapped leg-before by McGowan.

Furbert followed before tea, with Rawlins's dismissal after the interval the turning point in the Bay run chase. Jarryd Richardson and Brangman offered little resistance as Logie’s side slumped to 48 for six.

Manders, who batted well for his 36, was bowled by Darrell with Cleveland smelling victory at that stage, as Bay still needed 75 runs with only three wickets remaining.

When Makai Young had Trott stumped in his first over, it was only a matter of time.

Darrell enticed Zeko Burgess into a needless big shot, with the ball falling kindly into the hands of Douglas at mid-on, before Stovell bowled Jordan Burgess to spark huge celebrations from Cleveland fans.

Darrell, who dedicated the victory to Bolita Sampson, his late mother, thought that they had a stronger team.

“I feel like we brought more energy and more fight,” he said.

“Honestly, on paper I think we were the better team. It was just about showing up and executing our game plan.

“Our batsmen batted on the same wicket and we knew it was starting to dry up a little bit. We felt that we had a better bowling attack to exploit the conditions.

“Dion and I know how to hold a line. We were building pressure with dot balls. We knew that their batters are not disciplined enough, so it was a matter of time before they started playing loose shots.”

Stovell pointed to patience and discipline as the key components in Cleveland’s victory.

“These guys must understand that they have to stay calm and keep their patience,” he said.

“Bay have a strong team, but their batting hasn't been so great this season. Defending 140, we knew that by bowling the right areas and in the right lines, if we pick up wickets and put them on the back foot, we would come out victorious.”

McGowan, the Cleveland captain, was delighted to emulate father McNeil McGowan in taking the cup to Harris Bay. He is arranging a visit to see his 98-year-old grandmother, Roseclair McGowan, who is at the Sylvia Richardson Care Facility, after fulfilling a promise made to her.

“I’ve been saying for the last two weeks that I’m doing it for everybody in the community,” he said.

“To actually do it, it means a lot to me. I’m planning to visit my grandmother. My aunt was with her and she already knows that we won.

“It didn’t matter whether we batted or bowled first, we were prepared for anything. Truthfully, the only time we won the cup when I was in the team was when we batted first, so even with that score, we knew that once we played our part, everything would fall into place.

“Dion Stovell gathered the whole team before we went out to bowl and told us that it’s a score that we can defend. That’s what we believed and we did it.”