St. George’s opened their 50 Overs season with a narrow 12-run win over Bailey’s Bay at Wellington Oval on Sunday.

Captain Sinclair Smith was instrumental with the bat, forming two crucial partnerships to help his side reach 150 before holding onto the final catch of the match to seal the narrow victory.

Despite his personal achievements, Smith was keen to deflect credit to other members of the team.

“It was a team effort today,” Smith said. “We started off a bit rough so I knew I had to give myself time to settle in and we felt that 150/ to 160 was a competitive score to defend.

“The bowlers kept us in the game as they did well and bowled in the right areas. It was definitely a team effort today and not just one man.”

Winning the toss and electing to bat almost backfired fired for Smith as St George’s were reeling at 19 for four after only 4.4 overs, with Bay opening bowlers Kyle Hodsoll and Macquille Walker claiming two wickets apiece.

Captain Smith joined Keegan Jones to put on a fifth-wicket partnership worth 47 runs before the latter became the first of Dennico Hollis’ four wickets when bowled for 19. Zeko Burgess then joined his captain to produce a 43-run, sixth-wicket partnership before Smith became Hollis’ second wicket when caught for a team-high 40 runs. Smith’s contribution helped his team recover to 109 for six on his departure.

Burgess soldiered on to score 27 runs but also fell victim to Hollis’ left arm medium pace. Zakari Seymour made a useful 19 as St George’s limped to 150 all out in just 26.5 overs. Hollis claimed the scalps of three of the east Enders top runscorers to finish with four wickets for 50 runs. Walker claimed four for 52 with Hodsoll snatching the other two wickets for only 14 runs.

Having been set an under-par target of 151 for victory at 3.02 runs an over, Bay opened with Coolidge Durham and Jaiden Manders, who put on 12 runs before a rain shower halted play with St George’s Club president Neil Paynter assisting to put the covers on the wicket. Play resumed at 2.22pm without the number of overs being affected.

Bay’s openers set the tone for what looked a positive run chase as they batted sensibly to put on 41 runs in the power play. They rotated the strike regularly with the occasional boundary to put on a 76-run opening partnership before Manders skied out to Burgess off the bowling of Jones for 27. Young Tai Cariah played some good strokes before being adjudged lbw to Shaki Darrell for 13.

Captain Terryn Fray came to the wicket with Bay looking comfortable at 94 for two but Durham would be next out for a game-high 52, which included three fours and three sixes, when he was bowled by spinner Darrell. Wickets started to fall in quick succession leaving Bay in bother at 105 for five as St George’s bowlers started to dominate.

Jonté Smith took a good catch running from deep fine leg to dismiss Fray off the bowling of Burgess for 11 and when Sharye Tavares fell in the next over without troubling the score, Bay were in deep trouble at 120 for seven and the match starting to swing in the East Enders’ favour.

Bay had plenty of overs left but were running out of batsmen, needing 30 runs with three tail-end batters watching nervously in the pavilion.

With the score on 131, Usher lofted a simple catch to Nzari Paynter at mid-off to become the eighth out. Kyle Hodsoll was trapped the very next over for a three-ball duck, leaving the earlier bowling heroes, Walker and Hollis to attempt to carry the team over the line with 17 runs needed.

But Hollis edged Jones into wicketkeeper Smith’s gloves to be last out. Darrell would finish with the best bowling figures of the match, claiming five wickets for only 32 runs, and was ably assisted by Rahul Sapra and Burgess who both claimed two wickets each for 25 and 30 runs respectively.