Sea Breeze Oval (St George’s won toss; match reduced to 14 overs per team): St George’s beat Bailey’s Bay by seven wickets

St. George’s played to a convincing seven-wicket win but only after the match was delayed because of technical difficulties, with the scorers initially unable to access the scoring app mandated by the Bermuda Cricket Board.

Eventually, one scorer was able to get online but the other had to resort to the traditional scorebook. After the dust had been literally brushed off, the match proceeded but was reduced to 14 overs maximum per team as a result of time lost.

St.George’s won the toss and put Bay into bat on a difficult track that appeared to have a bit of moisture in it.

Bay opened the batting with Terryn Fray and Azende Furbert. Zeko Burgess opened the bowling and had Furbert caught by Jahquil Hill at long on in the first over for a golden duck. Burgess was unlucky not to have claimed a second in the same over as Shakai Darrell dropped Bermuda international Fray at midwicket on an attempted pull of the last ball.

Sharye Tavares would join Fray at the crease with the two putting on 24 runs for the second-wicket partnership before the former hit a drive straight into the arms of Jonté Smith at long on.

Jordan Burgess came and went without troubling the score after he was run out by a direct throw by Zakari Seymour. Bay president Stephen Outerbridge then joined Fray and the two would muster 21 runs together to carry the score to 47 before Outerbridge skied to deep long on.

Jerome Usher came in and skied one to the deep midwicket boundary, which Burgess did well to catch but his momentum carried him backward into the boundary wall for a six. However, the batter then skied out to Nzari Paynter on his very next ball.

After being spared a life, Fray nearly carried his bat for the entire innings but was bowled by Burgess in the last over for a game-high 61 runs, from 42 balls, which included seven fours and two sixes.

Burgess also claimed Bay T20 captain Rodney Trott on the last ball of the innings as Bay posted a target of 114 for eight from their 14 overs. Burgess was the pick of the East Enders bowling with three wickets for 18 runs from his three overs. Anandu Anil had two wickets for 20 runs.

In reply, St George’s opened with Jonte Smith and Paynter needing 8.14 runs an over. They would score 12 in the opening over off Kyle Hodsoll with Smith hitting a six and a four. The two batters were also brutal to Hodsoll in his second over, scoring 17 after smashing four fours and a single. Smith was the more aggressive of the two batsmen as he cut Macquille Walker to move the score along gracefully.

They would put on a 70-run opening partnership before Smith was bowled by Rodney Trott when going for a big hit. He dominated the partnership, scoring 47, which included seven fours and two sixes.

Zachary Edmunds (21) and Paynter would carry the score to 104 before the former pulled one around square leg but straight into the waiting hands of Tavares.

Trott would claim his second wicket when bowling Jahquil Hill after the batter had driven Jermaine Usher for a maximum which bounced off the clubhouse wall.

Needing one run to win, Jason Anderson pulled a four on the first ball he faced to end the match with just over three overs to spare. Paynter would finish with an unbeaten 33 runs. Captain Trott was the pick of the Bay bowlers finishing with two for 18 runs. Usher claimed the other wicket for 21 runs from his only over.

Man of the match Smith was happy to play his part in the win.

“They set a good total on a difficult wicket especially after the overs were reduced”, he said.

“We were aiming to bat aggressively and score ten runs an over in the four-over powerplay, which set the platform for the win. Once we accomplished that, we just said let’s see where this takes us and that laid the foundation for the win.”

In the final Premier Division games of the weekend, St David’s beat PHC by eight wickets.