Young Men's Social Club 277

Western Stars 144

Batsman Detroy Smith paid tribute to his side's bowling attack after Young Men's Social Club blazed their way to a second successive Central Counties championship as they disposed of Western Stars by 133 runs at Devonshire Rec. on Saturday.

Social Club's bowlers ensured a comfortable victory after a 78-minute rain delay in the Stars innings, never giving the St. John's Road side a chance to get going after contributions from almost the whole Social batting line-up contributed to a total of 277.

"I think we have the best bowling team on the Island, so once we go to bat and post our score, we can let our bowlers do their job," said a jubilant Smith after the match.

"We can defend almost any total as long as we give the bowlers support in the runs department when we go to the wicket."

After winning the toss and electing to bat on a batsman's wicket, Social Club were in a spot of bother at 35 for three when skipper Jahmiko Marshall (35) strolled to the crease to join opener Damon Rabain (61).

The pair produced a 96-run fourth-wicket partnership to carry the champions to 133 for four before Marshall departed, caught by Brian Hall for 35.

With the scoreboard ticking over and Social Club's batsmen putting in the time at the crease to push the score along, Stars were made to chase balls all over the pitch.

Other useful contributors to the Social Club innings were Nakia Smith (28), Detroy Smith (23), Charlie Marshall (23) and Jeffrey Tyrrell (26). Kevin Hurdle also added 21 to his team total.

Treadwell Gibbons jr. was the main threat to the Social Club's batsmen, taking four wickets for 50 runs while Akeem Talbot and Gershon Gibbons took two wickets apiece for 47 and 51 runs respectively.

The day would only get worse for Stars, who had their innings reduced to 37 overs after a rain delay and found themselves were behind the eight ball throughout the day, losing wickets early and often.

Onley Campbell was the pick of the Stars batsmen, scoring 30, while his partners dropped like flies, as they clawed their way to 95 for six.

In the end they were all out for 144 with all of the Social Club's bowlers contributing to the cause.

Tyrrell took three for 24, Smith took two for nine while Jaymo Durham and Hurdle both took two wickets for 15 and 42 respectively.

"We went into the match full of confidence, knowing what we had to do and went about getting the job done," Smith continued.

"The wicket out Devonshire Rec. is nice to bat on and any team can get 300-plus runs week in, week out, so that is what we wanted to do and applied pressure on Stars.

"In order to score runs on any wicket you have to sit in and bat."

Smith said the Central Countries competition was improving each year, noting the fact that the teams were closely matched.

"The Central Counties is getting better, Police are stronger and Stars have a young team who will come along as time goes on. So it is a promising future for the counties.

"We are the defending champions in both our county and the 50-Overs league, so we have one defence done and we are looking to defend the other.

"We delivered the goods to our club which supports us no matter what, and we will enjoy this moment."