They may be down in the First Division but Bailey's Bay proved on Saturday they can play with - and beat - the best of them.

The Eastern Counties champions knocked over highly-touted Cleveland by 90 runs in the first round of their title defence before a large and vocal crowd at Lord's.

Sent in for first bat, Bay put up a challenging 296 all out in 69.2 of their 70-over allotment. Cleveland too lost all their wickets in the run chase, replying with 206 in 41.1 of the 48 overs at their disposal.

Despite the comfortable margin of success, Bay's quest was not all smooth sailing as veteran Allan Douglas - plus some sloppy bowling by the Cup holders - threatened to write the script in Cleveland's favour.

However, the return of veteran bowler, the wily Clarkie Trott, brought Douglas' downfall - well caught at deep square leg by Corey Hill - and swung the match decisively in Bay's direction with Cleveland tottering on 171 for seven.

Prior to this, Bay cut into their opposition's line-up early as opener Jermaine Postlethwaite (six) and number three batsman, Aaron Adams (nought), returned to the pavilion respectively, via a direct run out by Charlie Marshall and one of Trott's fiery deliveries that sent the off-stump cartwheeling.

However, 12 for two in the third over was transformed to 81 for three by the 14th over as ill-directed bowling gifted Cleveland 20 wides and several other balls which Curtis Jackson and Peter Philpott made no mistake in dispatching for boundaries.

Bay's skipper Dennis Pilgrim came into the attack and managed to rein in things a bit with a better line and length, while also bagging two important wickets: Jackson (18) and Jason Simons (17).

Pilgrim was not to escape punishment though as Douglas' arrival at the crease heralded a display of batting fireworks, including three massive sixes off the Bay captain.

Though six wickets were down, this rampant scoring kept Cleveland in touch with the required run rate but when Douglas departed (48 off 36 balls; two fours, five sixes) so did the potency of his team's challenge.

Appropriately, it was Trott who affixed the exclamation mark to Bay's triumph, bowling Cleveland's last man, Charles Richardson, for five to finish with four for 52 off 12.1 overs. Pilgrim took two for 51 off 11 overs.

Cleveland's skipper Carlton Smith - whose run out for eight resulted from an athletic dive by Glenn Blakeney - conceded the “better team won”. He noted the difference between the two sides was that Bay made the most of their chances both in the field and at the crease - and how right he was!

Cleveland were afflicted by butter fingers as they dropped at least four catches, including the dangerous Blakeney off his first ball. Riding that let-off by Postlethwaite at slip, Blakeney compiled 43 (eight fours) as Bay's batsmen showed consistency. Dennis Trott, 26; Stephen Outerbridge, 34; Charlie Marshall, 64 (eight fours; one six); Corey Hill, 25, and Pilgrim, 22 not out, all contributed to the sizeable total. There were also 46 extras.

Hari Rawat was the pick of Cleveland's bowlers, capturing four for 56 from 17.2 overs while Jeff Tyrell boasted three for 74 from 18 overs and Philpott, three for 78 from 23 overs.

“It was a good game. It was my first time being skipper and it was mentally hard on me because we were defending the trophy.

“I have to thank my players, especially my senior players, and also Ricky Hill (coach) who is a genius when it comes to mapping out games. He had us mentally tuned in on Friday night and after that team meeting everybody was focused,” said Pilgrim, scoffing at some people's scepticism that Bay would be able to handle a Premier Division team.

“You can never count us out. We've got a lot of talent and a lot of big-game players who come out and do what they have to do. County games mean a lot to Bailey's Bay - more than anything else.”

Pilgrim did admit that Douglas “gave us a scare”.

“He is incredible. He has been around a long time and knows the game. You have to give credit to Dougie. He always comes out with a lot of heart and a lot of guts. He fights hard.”

The victory, he said, would boost Bay's confidence ahead of their next Counties fixture against Flatts on August 16.

Regarding his decision to field after winning the toss, Smith explained that he anticipated early wickets, adding his tactics would have paid off had Cleveland held their catches.

“We dropped catches at crucial stages which put pressure on us and we let them escape. You can't drop a guy like Glenn Blakeney and hope you're going to get away with it. Then they put up a formidable total and we lost some early wickets which set us behind,” said the Cleveland leader, warning they will backnext year.