Wellington Oval (Willow Cuts won toss): Willow Cuts beat St George’s by six wickets

Malachi Jones, the Willow Cuts captain, rattled through St George’s brittle batting line-up with a menacing spell of bowling before helping his side hunt down their paltry target at Wellington Oval.

Jones tore the heart out of the St George’s middle order, claiming five wickets, as the host side were skittled their opponents for just 134 off 32.1 overs in yesterday’s Logic Premier Division game.

Only Micheal Paynter, the St George’s captain, offered any real resistance with a stoic 46 before being dismissed by the metronomic Jones.

Willow Cuts, who have won four out of their five league games this season, needed only 19.5 overs to reach the required total with Jones blasting 36 not out as part of a 73 run fifth-wicket stand with Chris Douglas who scored a chanceless 68 not out.

Jones, however, was far from content with his team’s performance, believing that they gifted St George’s too many runs in the field, while expressing concerns about his side’s early-order batting, having lost both openers, Chris Foggo and Shaquille Jones, cheaply.

“[The win] was not as convincing as we would have liked,” Jones said. “We were lackadaisical in the field and gave them 30 to 40 runs too much.

“We’re also struggling with our batting and we have to sort something out and find a nice opening partnership.

“There’s plenty of room for improvement in our batting department and we’re yet to get off to a good start this season.

“Thankfully our batting is pretty deep so we’ve been able to get over the hump.”

That Cuts were able to “get over the hump” had much to do with Douglas, the stylish left-hander, who steadied the ship at five for two and set about rebuilding this team’s innings, firstly with Deunte Darrell, reaching his easy-on-the-eye half-century from just 40 balls.

“I have to try Chris at the top of the order because technically he is the best batsman we have got in the camp,” Jones added.

“I just think we need his leadership up front to at least guarantee that we get to ten overs without losing a wicket.”

Despite his delivering captain’s performance, Jones said he was still not firing on all cylinders particularly with the bat.

“My bowling pretty much takes care of itself,” he said. “Whether I get wickets or not, I’m economical every week but I feel my batting needs to improve.

“I’m not where I want to be with the bat yet. I started off the season pretty well but then had a little slump.

“I’m just battling my way out of it and hopefully around Cup Match time I will be in better nick. My timing was a little off and I need to start finding the middle of the bat again.”

While he might not have been at his big-hitting best, Jones was rarely troubled by St George’s tame attack, with Herbie Bascome, the former Bermuda seam bowler, the pick of a poor bunch, claiming three wickets despite not looking fully fit.”

Jones remains optimistic that his side will remain in the title hunt and apply some pressure on St David’s, the defending champions and firm favourites, who are still unbeaten in the league this season.

“I don’t think St David’s can stay undefeated throughout the season.” said Jones, whose side take on Southampton Rangers next weekend.

“We have just got to worry about ourselves and try to get as many wins as we can.”