Player of the match Isaiah O’Brien struck an unbeaten 92 for St David’s but his effort not enough for his team to lose by 44 runs to Southampton Rangers in the Premier Division T20 Knockout Cup final at White Hill Field on Sunday.

O’Brien, who was dropped on 58 and 63 by Donte Brangman in the deep off Nyhrobi Carmichael’s fourth over, struck nine fours and five sixes for St David’s to finish on 151 for six. Rangers, who lost the toss and were asked to take first strike, compiled a challenging 195 for six, powered by Dalin Richardson’s 53, off 29 balls, and a rapid 49, from 21 deliveries, by opener Onias Bascome.

“I felt pretty good batting today,” O’Brien told The Royal Gazette.

“It was a much needed knock for the team. I believe that in order to get to my 100, I could have run harder between the wickets earlier.

“I thought about the 100 when I started batting. Once I got to 50, I knew that there was always a good chance to go all the way. It’s always a pleasure to make it to a final but it’s just unfortunate that it didn’t go our way today.

“Knowing that I’m making runs a lot in the Premier Division, people don’t see me just as a young player any more. They see me as a future star for Bermuda.”

Rangers captain Alex Dore, who contributed 26 at No 3, was delighted to clinch more silverware with his side’s third trophy of the season.

“I think as a club we’re excited because we stick to the process,” Dore said.

“We backed ourselves to do better and showed a lot of character in this game. We don’t do it every game, we set a target of 170 and we got 196.

“We didn’t do it with sixes and fours, we ran a lot of singles, we ran a lot of twos and we just kept on doing the process over and over again.

“I just want to thank the club and our sponsors for supporting us every game, these trophies go back to them as well.”

Bascome showed intent by taking 20 runs off the opening over bowled by his Bermuda team-mate Chare Smith. Allan Douglas Jr offered a chance from O’Brien’s first delivery, but the ball landed safely between Makai Young and Smith.

O’Brien got his man in the next over when Douglas tried to clear the long off boundary to be caught by Smith.

With Smith, who eventually finished with three for 47, going for 33 in his first two overs, St David’s turned to OJ Pitcher. The 43-year-old conceded three runs in his first over then bagged the big wicket of Bascome in his next over, with the big-hitting opener attempting to get to his 50 in style, but Smith took the catch at deep square leg.

Richardson made sure that his team did not feel the departure of Bascome when he walked out to the middle following Dore’s dismissal. The former Rangers captain struck six fours and three sixes, with his 69-run fourth-wicket partnership with Dion Stovell, who made 33, taking the game away from St David’s.

“That knock earlier from Onias Bascome was crazy for me,” Dore said.

“Dalin Richardson came in and made some runs as well. I think Onias showed a lot of quality, but Dalin showed his skill and showed his quality. He shows up in big games every time, thanks to him for showing his class.”

St David’s made a slow start with Justin Pitcher bowled by Brangman in the third over. O’Brien upped the scoring with a couple of boundaries before Dean Simons was cleaned up by Douglas, whose safe hands also accounted for Ricardo Brangman Jr off the bowling of Jordan DeSilva.

“What we got was a very defendable total,” the Rangers captain said.

“But again, fielding and the bowling was not necessarily about chasing wickets, it was about containing and executing the plan.

“That’s what we did today. Our bowlers backed themselves, we backed our bowlers and they again showed their quality.”

Reflecting on the St David’s run chase, O’Brien felt that the way they began was not ideal, with their situation not helped by losing some of their reliable batters.

“We had a very slow start and lost a lot of valuable wickets early in our chase,” the 18-year-old said.

“I just believe that the result could have been different if we had have attacked harder in the power play.”