Gerhard Erasmus produced a vintage man-of-the-match performance to power Pembroke Panthers to a seven-wicket victory against Smith’s Sixers in the opening match of the Bermuda Smash Invitational.

The Namibian all-rounder struck a game-high, unbeaten 98 at North Field, National Sports Centre, on Saturday. He also took a wicket and held a catch to leave no doubt as to who would walk away with MVP honours.

“It’s always nice to perform in the first game and take some pressure off the rest of your tournament,” Erasmus told The Royal Gazette.

The former Namibia captain and second pick in the Draft ruthlessly put the Sixers attack to the sword in the second innings as he thumped eight sixes and four fours during a swashbuckling 47-ball innings as the Panthers reached their target of 155 for three with 28 balls to spare.

“I thought the pitch was tough to bat on,” he said. “But the bowlers provided enough scoring balls and luckily I capitalised on those and used the wind to my advantage.”

Erasmus tried his best to reach his century but ultimately came up just shy of the milestone.

“I wanted to get the hundred and I pride myself on scoring hundreds, but it wasn’t the day for it, so I was a bit disappointed,” he said.

The 2023 Associate Cricketer of the Year’s match-winning knock was not without luck as he was dropped twice by Dennico Hollis off the bowling of overseas player Shaquan Belle.

Having been spared, Erasmus shifted through the gears and raced to the tournament’s first fifty, of 27 balls, with a beautifully timed sweep shot off Kwasi James that landed on top of a spectator’s tent over the backward square-leg boundary.

He then repeated the same dose off the very next delivery to also bring up Panthers’ hundred in style in the tenth over, which saw James go for 18 runs.

Erasmus dominated a 68-run partnership for the second wicket with captain Dominic Sabir (23) and 36 in a match-winning fourth-wicket stand with Trott (14 not out), who scored the winning run with a single off Hollis.

Medium pacer James was the pick of the Sixers bowling with two for 36. Earlier, Sixers posted 154 after being sent in on an even batting track.

They got off to a slow start with openers Oronde Bascome (28) and Brett Hampton (35), the top pick in the Draft, managing only 30 from the first power play as the Panthers attack hit their marks to keep the run rate in check.

Bascome and Hampton added 65 for the first wicket before Jermal Proctor eventually made the breakthrough in the ninth over, when he had Bascome grabbed by Zeko Burgess at long on.

Hampton then departed in the next over after edging a delivery from Erasmus to Burgess at backward point.

Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals as Anthony Mosca (2) and Malachi Jones (12) were also dismissed in the space of an over as the Panthers tightened their grip on the match.

A timely swashbuckling knock from the big--hitting Macai Simmons powered the Sixers to 154 for four in their allotted 20 overs.

Simmons thumped an unbeaten 41, off 33 balls, that included three sixes and as many fours and dominated an unbroken 70-run fifth-wicket partnership with Belle (21 not out).

Fast bowler Proctor led the Panthers attack with two for 19.

Cal Waldron, the Panthers coach, was delighted to see his team get their title bid off to a winning start.

“Well done to the team, I thought they played well,” he said.

“I thought the performance went well and it’s always good to get a winning start to any tournament.

“There are still some things we need to correct, but overall it’s one under our belt and we’re definitely looking to come back next match and carry on with another win.”

As for Erasmus’s match-winning knock, Waldron said: “Well batted and as always you want at least one batsman to bat through the innings in a T20 match to lay the foundation.

“It’s unfortunate that he didn’t get three figures, but hopefully he can carry that form into the next match and complete it.”