Cleveland 166-7

St. David's 166-3

How Bermuda must wish they had the talents of Chris Foggo to call on.

For while the national side were still smarting from defeat at the hands of Holland, the St. David's opening batsman was readily dispatching the Cleveland bowling attack to all corners of the ground in the penultimate Eastern Counties Cup of the season on Saturday.

Foggo's accomplished 85 secured the hosts a hard-fought draw in highly controversial circumstances as they were beaten by the clock with the scores tied at 166 apiece.

And his exploits with the bat led to skipper OJ Pitcher describing him as the "best batsman in Bermuda".

"Right now Chris is in great form - the last four games he's got 50s and right now must be the best batsman in Bermuda," said Pitcher.

Pitcher was equally delighted with Foggo's main batting partner, colt and namesake Justin Pitcher, who hit an impressive 70 on his debut.

"It was his first game and to get half a century is no mean feat - he batted extremely well," he said.

"He showed today that he can be a very patient batsman, but he can also play very aggressively."

Overall captain Pitcher was satisfied with the result, despite having Cleveland on the rack at 36 for five at one stage, but they were unable to surpass the visitors' total of 166 for seven, reaching 166 for three, with Foggo being run out on the final ball of the day.

"It basically went according to plan - I couldn't have asked for anything more from my players," he said.

"My players gave 100 percent and everybody pulled their weight.

"All credit to my opening bowlers and the batting was perfect from Chris and Justin - they batted really well.

"We got the early wickets, but anything can happen in the game of cricket and they (Cleveland) had a good partnership at the end to get a respectable total."

One man who was pleased with the outcome at least was Foggo, who helped to produce a grandstand finish which means there is everything to play for against Flatts in the final game.

"I'm thrilled and I'm glad it was a nice finish - I am sure the crowd enjoyed it and we kept it exciting until the very end," he said.

"Justin's performance really pleased me today as well - he is one for the future. He looks to be exciting and improving all the time and I like that about him - you are not going to hold him back.

"There came a point in the game where either I could have gone on to get a century or he could have got a half-century, but he is a colt and I wanted him to get his first half-century in his first match." St David's won the toss and put Cleveland into bat and soon had the away side reeling, with their top six batsmen departing for less than 27 runs, as Greg Foggo and Rudell Pitcher took 3-23 and 3-60 respectively.

But that only served to bring Carlton Smith (48no) and Hasan Durham (63no) to the crease, and the pair forged a useful partnership of 78 to rescue Cleveland's innings.

In reply, St David's were never really in any danger, despite opener Fiqure Crockwell falling to a spectacular catch by Smith at first slip off the bowling of Dennis Mussan.

Cue the Foggo and Justin Pitcher show and the dramatic finale.