[naviga:font color="BLUE"]St.David's CC 304-4

Cleveland County 213

Landro Minors came of age at Sea Breeze Oval on Saturday, blasting a maiden Eastern Counties century and dominating a record partnership with skipper Delyone Borden to lay the foundation for St.David's' emphatic 91-run win over Cleveland County.

The left-handed batsman thumped a chanceless 128 from 119 deliveries in 107 minutes and along with Borden added 214 runs in an unbroken fifth-wicket stand that put the match beyond Cleveland's reach.

Fast bowler George O'Brien jr led the Islanders' attack with three for 35 while Borden retrurned three for 39 to cap a fine all-round display.

Ankoma Cannonier, the St.David's colt, also had a day to remember as he claimed two for 11 off 2.4 overs including last man Shaki Darrell (24) to spark joyous scenes as Islanders players and fans alike basked in glory.

The match only went ahead after an emergency meeting on Friday night before which St. David's had threatened to pull out of the competition in protest of the Eastern Counties Cricket Association's new policy to share proceeds from the matches among the affiliates. Previously, only hosts St. David's and Bailey's Bay had pocketed the income.

Minors and Borden came together at the crease with their team in a spot of bother at 90 for four after spinners Tamauri Tucker (one for 72) and Hasan Durham (two for 52) snatched three quick wickets just before the lunch interval.

But once play resumed after the break the pair thrust the Islanders in the ascendancy with some excellent running between the stumps and attractive strokeplay that delighted the large gathering on hand.

The more aggressive Minors led the Islanders' fightback with some robust hitting through the line while Borden, who gathered 74 from 115 deliveries, provided the perfect foil.

"Landro came to our rescue . . . he has so much potential and is always a threat because he hits the ball very straight. He is a very correct batsman and I have a lot of faith in him," said Islanders coach George Cannonier.

"Our game plan was to win the toss and bat first. The team that bats first is allowed 70 overs and we felt if we got those overs we could get at least 300 runs and at the same time wear Cleveland down – and the plan worked perfectly.

"We lost a couple of key batsmen early but I knew a partnership was a going to come from somewhere because we had a plan and I knew we could stick to it with the batsmen we have.

"We knew this wicket was going to be perfect for batting because we arrived here early and had a good look at it. But no matter what the condition the wicket was in our plan was to bat first and take the majority of the overs and if we made 300 runs it would've almost been impossible for them to make those runs in the remaining overs (48)."

Minors, who has aspirations of representing Bermuda and playing in Cup Match, described his gem of an innings as one of his best.

"It was definitely one of my better knocks and I really felt confident batting with Delyone. The pitch was ideal for batting and I felt very comfortable out there. I was seeing the ball really well," he said.

No Cleveland bowler was spared Minors' onslaught, particularly the spinners who were virtually blasted out of the attack as the left-handed batsman cut loose.

Also making promising starts were senior national team pair Chris Douglas (37) and Fiqre Crockwell (36) who added 69 runs for the second wicket after opener Sammy Robinson (0) was bowled by a Charles Richardson (one for 14) inswinger that cut back sharply.

Chasing a target of 305 for victory in 48 overs was always going to be an uphill struggle for Cleveland and after losing their first four wickets for 55 runs the writing began to appear on the wall as O'Brien and Borden made their presence felt.

Jason Simons (42) and Dennis Musson jr (47) led the Cleveland resistance while next high 'man' was the 33 runs St.David's gave away in extras – including 17 no balls.