St George's in the driver's seat (Update 2)

THURSDAY, JULY 28: St George’s put themselves in good position not only to retain the Cup, but to outright win it.

The Blue and Blue scored 188 in reply to Somerset’s first innings of 97 all out. Somerset then went back into bat with just over an hour left to play and put up another 39 to still trail by 58.

Somerset’s Dion Stovell was out for one in the second innings with Colt Terryn Fray putting up a respectable 31 to keep hopes alive for the Red and Blue.

But there is still trouble on the horizon for Somerset. Still trailing by 58 runs and a wicket down, ZBM News reported that Jacobi Robinson had to go to the hospital for a broken hand leaving Somerset at a disadvantage if he can't bat.

Jason Anderson had 52 runs to help St George’s reach a formidable lead after the first day’s play.

This was after the morning saw Justin Pitcher and Stefan Kelly rip the heart out of Somerset like chainsaw wielding horror villains by claiming nine wickets between them.

Anderson’s 52 was not only his high score for Cup Match, but it was more runs than had collected in his previous four innings.

If there was any bright spot to the day’s play for Somerset, it was Kevin Hurdle’s bowling.

Hurdle told the Bermuda Sun prior to the match, “They have brought me into the team to take wickets and that is what I plan to do.”

Hurdle didn’t disappoint claiming five wickets for 38 while Tucker was four for seven in 6.3 overs.

Maybe also deserving some credit for St George’s is Wellington Oval groundsman Clayton Raynor who told the Bermuda Sun, “St George’s is going to whip the pants off of Somerset.”

It appeared that St George’s batsmen were going to give away the advantage their bowlers earned them when skipper Oronde Bascome was caught by Janeiro Tucker off the bowling of Hurdle with the east enders only on nine runs, of which Bascome was gone for a duck.

Fellow opener Jason Anderson then had a partnership with Fiqre Crockwell to take the score to 41-2. Crockwell was clean bowled by Hurdle.

OJ Pitcher then helped Anderson to form a 66 run partnership before Hurdle made Anderson was out LBW with the score at 107-3

There was brief moment of help as Rodney Trott was gone for two, another LBW victim for Hurdle and Pitcher was clean bowled by Hurdle for 26 and the score having only moved to 116-5.

Lionel Cann and Delyone Borden then helped right St George’s ship, helping put Somerset further into the hole.

Cann had 38 runs before Tucker bowled him when the ball did not come up. His total left him 62 runs shy of joining the 1,000 runs club.

Borden (17) was bowled by Stovell at 187-7 and then Douglas (16) fell without the scoreboard moving to give Somerset some hope again at 187-8.

Somerset fans were ecstatic as then Justin Pitcher and Damali Bell were both quickly back in the clubhouse with St George’s all out for 188.

The morning had Somerset fans clutching their stomachs in agony as the Red and Blue went into the lunch break reeling at 97 all out. 

Justin Pitcher put sword to the Somerset batsmen claiming five wickets within the day’s first hour of play. 

Stefan Kelly's blistering pace helped clean up most of the rest of the wickets in grabbing four wickets while colt Damali Bell had the day’s first wicket. Somerset did not make it to the scheduled lunch break at 12:50pm, and barely batted for just over two hours. 

Somerset won the toss and elected to bat, something they may be wishing they had not done as the morning unfolded. Dion Stovell and Terryn Fray were the openers with Stovell falling for just one run at 16-1 off of Bell’s pace. 

Pitcher got Stephen Outerbridge for a duck as the big hitter was caught by Bell. Deunte Darrell, last year’s MVP, came into the crease. 

Somerset colt Terryn Fray was the next to go, caught by wicketkeeper Jason Anderson, becoming Justin Pitcher’s second victim at 29-3. 

Janeiro Tucker came in to steady the nerves and usually was able to play out his ‘Mr Cup Match’ as scripted, but not today. He was gone off a fine low catch by Rodney Trott off the bowling of Pitcher which set off wild celebrations both on and off the field. 

Tucker managed just 11 runs for Somerset’s total and Somerset reeling at 45-4 Colt Kamau Leverock’s first experience will be one he’ll want to forget as he also fell for 0 to Pitcher. 

Skipper Jekon Edness came in and his partnership with Darrell ended when Darrell was out LBW by Stefan Kelly for 16 and the west enders now down for 50-6. Somerset lost their first six wickets within the opening hour of Cup Match. 

Malachi Jones was the third Somerset batsman out for zero and the score sitting at 60-7. 

Lionel Cann had the catch of the day, running away from the wicket with a difficult over the shoulder catch off the bowling of Pitcher. The ball tailed away adding to the difficulty of the catch. 

Edness was cleaned bowled by Kelly with the score having just been pushed to 63-8. 

Somerset were lucky as both former skipper Jacobi Robinson and Kevin Hurdle were dropped and they could have been all out by 77. 

Robinson’s swashbuckling ways came to an end when Kelly clean bowled him for 17 runs and Somerset fans in tears with the team at 82-9. 

Kevin Hurdle and Joshua Gilbert were able to wag the tail end just to 97 before Kelly cleaned bowled Hurdle for 13 runs. Gilbert was not out for 4.

Kelly was 4-26 while Pitcher was 5-42