Southampton Rangers 164;

Somerset Bridge 156

Southampton Rangers batsman Andrew Raynor credited his sides successful Western Counties defence to team awareness and discipline as they survived another low scoring affair to win the Western Counties for the second consecutive year after defeating Somerset Bridge by eight runs at White Hill Field on Saturday.

Rangers, minus two star batsmen in Dion Stovell and Janeiro Tucker, did what was necessary to carry the trophy back to Southampton albeit by the narrowest of margins, similar to that of Warwick in the previous round.

Raynor stated that even with the score Rangers posted, Bridge still had to chase them down with no real formidable batting lineup in which to do it with.

"The basic thing was to keep the fielding pretty tight and eliminate the boundaries which would make them try to go for it all," said Raynor. "We were counting down overs and balls to keep the pressure on and allowing ourselves to stay in it.

"But they hung in there and put a good performance forward."

Winning the toss and electing to bat, Rangers were led by Keith Wainwright who was their top scorer with 38, while Steve Lightbourne(25) and Andrew Raynor (21) both chipped in to post a defendable total for the champions.

Veteran spinner Jermaine Salaam, who produced with both bat and ball, was the top bowler for Bridge, returning figures of five for 20 in his ten overs.

In reply Bridge were bowled all out for 156 in 49.2 overs, just 8 runs short of their target with guest player Nakia Smith top scorer with 41, with Salaam scoring 24 in a losing cause.

Shannon Rayner took three for 21 for Rangers, while Wainwright took three for 23 in his 10 over to guide Rangers to victory.

In the end Raynor was not worried about how his side won the match, just the fact they did.

"We knew that would come at us and show everyone that this won't be an easy game," said Raynor. "It was one of those ugly types games in which all our batsmen got out due to lack of application, but we managed to post a good score and apply pressure when they batted.

"The bowling was there to hit but we didn't get on top of it.

"We pretty much said as a team that they don't have too much big hitters that will trouble us so if we get on them early in their innings then it will be an uphill battle for them.

"When it came to County this year the whole team stepped up to the table, from posting two 300 games against Willow Cuts and PHC, to the close low scoring affairs like the last two matches, we were able to be aware of what was going on and react accordingly and in the end it worked out for us.

"We owe the close calls lately to not really focusing after the Cup Match holiday and not applying ourselves, but we came away today with a good victory and will celebrate this one."

Devonshire Rec 139/10;

Police 14?

Police kept their slim 50-over league title aspirations alive with a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Devonshire Rec. at Devonshire Rec. yesterday.

James Celestine picked apart the Devonshire bowling on his way to a match-winning knock of 72 which included 10 fours and two sixes as he guided his side to finish line before being run out with his side 114 for three.

Garvin Aparicio (21) and Nyon Steede (four) put Police over the required total with plenty of overs to spare.

Wilbur Burt was the pick of the Devonshire bowlers, claiming one for 43.

Earlier Devonshire won the toss and batted, scoring 139 before being bowled out.

Ian Armstrong was the high scorer for Devonshire, scoring 38 while Ricardo Brangman Jr. scored 35 to assist the home side.

Aparicio and Anderson Cumberbatch were the best bowlers for Police, taking two for 34 and two for 22 respectively.

In the other two Premier Division games, St. David's beat St. George's Cricket Club by 96 runs at Wellington Oval. St. David's batted first and scored 230 and bowled out their hosts for 134.

Cleveland County also won, defeating Somerset Cricket Club by four wickets at Somerset CC. Somerset Cricket Club batted first, scoring 148, while Cleveland County reached the total, scoring 149 for six.