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St George's retained the Cup in fine style today handing Somerset a real beating on their home patch.

Arthur Pitcher jnr struck the winning runs, with a huge six over the head of bowler Dwayne Leverock to secure a comfortable seven-wicket victory.

The east enders breezed past their paltry 76-run victory target without breaking sweat on Friday evening.

But the hard work had been done in the first innings.

Vice-captain OJ Pitcher struck 98 with an impressive 88 from the ageless Charile Marshall to set up the victory.

Put into bat on day one, the champions were in all kinds of trouble, losing four quick wickets.

But Pitcher and Marshall dug them out of the mire before skipper Lionel Cann, with a typically aggressive knock of 42, and Arthur Pitcher jnr (35 not out) propelled them to an imposing total of 335 for eight.

Ace fast bowler George O'Brien, the hero last year with the ball, picked up where he left off at Wellington Oval twelve months ago.

The burly young seamer, aided by Delyone Borden, got stuck into Somerset early on, with only Stephen Outerbridge (54) putting up any resistance as the challengers were left reeling on 160 for 6 overnight

Worse was to follow the next morning as the pair, with a little help from Arthur Pitcher jnr and one calamitous run-out to get rid of Jacobi Robinson, cleaned up the tail with Somerset all out on 179..

That left them 156 short of St George's first-innings total, and 56 short of the follow-on target.

Lionel Cann, in his first year as skipper, stuck to his promise of attacking tactics and elected to make the challengers bat again.

It looked to have paid off with four Somerset bats back in the pavilion before lunch. And when danger man Janeiro Tucker fell quickly after the break it seemed that the cup would be back in St George's before tea-time.

But a superb rearguard action led by Saleem Mukuddem gave the fans in red and navy a faint glimmer of hope.

Mukuddem struck a classy 64 with manful support from the tail, particularly young Jekon Edness who played a big role for his team with a patient 17.

Crucially the South African took Somerset past St George's first-innings total meaning the east enders would have to bat again and Janeiro Tucker's men would not suffer the humiliation of an innings defeat.

Any real hope of setting a reasonable target for St George's disappeared when Mukuddem was stumped by Minors off the bowling of Borden.

But 16-year-old Malachi Jones played a late cameo, riding his luck at times, during a whirlwind knock of 36.

Big Dwayne Leverock hung in there with him, seemingly heeding the calls from the Somerset fans to 'stay there till sundown' as he blocked and blocked while Malachi swung the bat at the other end.

The odd-couple - between them the skinniest and the largest players on the pitch - took the total to a semi-respectable 232 before Arthur Pitcher jnr had Leverock caught by Clay Smith at point to end the innings.

The two-figure target was never likely to be a huge challenge for St George's and even the most optimistic west-ender had to admit the game was up when Oronde Bascome thrashed a couple of sixes to get the innings off to a flying start.

A superb catch from Dion Stovell off the bowling of Jacobi Robinson took care of Bascome but Clay Smith, took St George's to the brink of victory with an accomplished 35.

Smith, and Rodney Trott, who had dropped anchor after being elevated to opener for the second innings, fell before the finish but St George's never really looked in trouble and Troy Hall and Arthur Pitcher jnr took them to victory just after 6pm sparking scenes of celebration in the east.[[In-content Ad]]

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