Police 159

St David's 161-6

A champagne soaked Lionel Cann fought back tears of joy as he celebrated St David's first 50 over league title win for eight years.

The emotion came pouring out of the veteran batsman after he had dug deep to drag the Islanders back from the brink of defeat, smashing an unbeaten 76 to guide his side to a four-wicket win over Police at Lords.

Cann came to the crease with his side reeling on 33 for five after Police bowler Traddie Simpson had ripped through the top-order claiming all five wickets.

And when skipper Delyone Borden was then trapped leg before by Melvin Best with the score on 56, St David's looked shell-shocked.

However Cann kept his cool and put on 105 runs in a seventh-wicket stand with Justin Pitcher (31 not out) as the Islanders eventually won with 20 overs to spare.

"These guys are like my children, being the senior player in the team, and to see them having success from being young and changing their diapers, and to live through this with them means a lot to me, you know," said Cann.

"It's been eight years since we won (the league) and a lot of these guys were playing junior cricket, and weren't part of the senior set-up yet.

"And then in recent years we have been hindered by most of them playing for Bermuda the last four or five years, and we haven't had the team together.

"But this is the first year that we are back together and we showed our quality, it has been a total team effort, all the batsmen have made runs throughout out the years, and the bowlers shared the wickets.

"We have been a class side this year, we worked hard, and we deserve it."

Fittingly it was the veteran batsman who hit the winning runs, and having done so, he threw his bat and his helmet high into the air and sprinted towards his team-mates for an emotional celebration that had been eight years in the making.

There had been no suggestion earlier in the day as to the dramatic conclusion to St David's title triumph, in fact it looked as if the Islanders would wrap up their season with the minimum of fuss.

Bowling first the home side quickly took control with opening bowler Stefan Kelly a constant threat, Kelly took three for 36 off eight overs, and at one stage Police were reeling at 76 for six.

Only Dennis Archer (55) and Andy Cumberbatch (21) provided any real resistance, and Archer especially was instrumental in getting the visiting team towards a defendable total.

Even so, with Del Hollis also claiming three wickets, and the Police innings ending in the 35th over, a home win seemed inevitable.

Simpson though had other ideas. He claimed the scalp of Chris Douglas with the second ball of the innings, trapping the opener lbw, and then had Adrian Burrows caught in the slips four balls later.

Landro Minors was next to go, comprehensively bowled after a poor attempt at a forward defensive shot, and Sammy Robinson (21) followed soon after, edging to Cumberbatch in the slips to become Simpson's final victim.

The Police bowler finished with figures of five for 27, and on any other day might have expected to finish on the winning side.

Cann and Borden briefly steadied the ship before Borden departed, and it might have got even worse for the Islanders.

With his side still wobbling on 77 for six, Cann played a lose shot, and flicked the ball straight at Oswald Hinds at square leg. Hinds appeared to be caught unawares by the ball coming straight at him, and dropped the catch. Cann was on 24 at the time, but from that moment on he never looked back.

@$:The veteran batsman tore the rest of the Police bowlers apart, and raced to his 50 off just 41 balls, hitting two sixes, and nine fours in the process. Pitcher kept his head while Cann was blasting the ball around the ground, and in the end, the pair were able to safely guide their side to the league title.

"It ( the win) showed the quality and class here, on Saturday OJ and Delyone had to rescue us, today it was my turn to step up for the team, and I'm glad I could," said Cann.