Southampton Rangers 295-6

Bailey's Bay 199

Bailey's Bay gift wrapped the Premier Division title and handed it to rivals Southampton Rangers on a plate at Sea Breeze Oval yesterday.

The home side dropped six catches, put in a fielding display that skipper Irving Romaine described as 'terrible', and then collapsed to 39 for four in reply to Rangers' impressive 295 for six.

Even then they might still have pulled off a remarkable victory as Irving Romaine (95) and David Lovell (46) put on 119 in 18 overs for the fifth wicket, and at 158 for four, the game was still very much in the balance.

Lovell and Romaine clubbed Rangers all around the Sea Breeze Oval, with the ball being deposited in the stands, in the sea, and from one mammoth Romiane six into Ducks Puddle Drive behind the pavilion.

Janeiro Tucker took his fair share of the beating, conceding 34 runs in his first 2.5 overs, but with the final delivery of his third over trapped Lovell lbw and from then on Bailey's Bay were always likely to lose.

With no recognised batsmen to come, Romaine did his best to drive his side on, but going for one big hit too many, he top-edged a delivery from Dwayne Leverock and was comfortably caught by wicketkeeper Kwame Tucker.

From then the result was a foregone conclusion, and as the tail collapsed for just 15 runs, Janeiro Tucker added some respectability to his figures, in the end taking four for 58 from his six overs. His final act was to bowl last man Burton Outerbridge first ball, handing his side a 96 run victory, and sparking the kind of celebrations only a title triumph can bring.

"It feels great," said Rangers skipper Leverock. "The guys worked hard last week, we let it slide, but we came here with a purpose and we did what we had to do.

"It looked like Bay were going to take it away from us when Irving (Romaine) was batting well, but we stuck with it, and he couldn't hit everything.

"We played as a unit, as a team, we stayed together. It's another milestone in my career, it's been a long career, this is probably my 15 title, my fifth with Rangers, and as captain it's even more sweeter.

"You never get tired of winning trophies."

Things might have been different for Bay, who began the day just a point behind Rangers, if they had produced in the field, but they didn't, and as well as the six dropped catches, they also conceded 36 extras. Not included in those were also the numerous overthrows, and the atrocious fielding that saw the ball slip between legs and hands for four on several occasions.

Opener Kwame Tucker should have been run out twice in the opening exchanges, but was let off by some poor throwing from Terryn Fray. Dion Stovell was dropped by Calvin Dill at first slip, and when he was eventually out, wicketkeeper Marvin Trott dropped his replacement Curtis Jackson twice.

Kwame Tucker made 55, Jackson made 57, and Janeiro Tucker got in on the act at the end, hitting a brisk 54 as Rangers put one hand on the league title by the interval.

Having blown a similarly commanding position last week against PHC, there were to be no such mistakes this time around for the league leaders. Traddie Simpson returned to the side and took three wickets for just 21 runs as Bay's middle order crumbled without much of a fight.

Opener's Dennico Hollis was undone by a short, delivery that he edged behind, Terryn Fray lobbed an easy catch to Kerry Tucker at mid-on, and Wendell White was out to a stunning one-handed catch by Kwame Tucker.

Romaine and Lovell briefly gave the home fans something to cheer about, and for a while Rangers must have been wondering about their decision to leave fast bowler Stephan Dill out of the team.

However Leverock and Janeiro Tucker were not about to let another chance slip through their fingers, and now they can go to St David's next week as champions.