Somerset and St George’s triumph as recent rains wreak havoc with weekend cricket schedule

All but two matches were played in the BCB 50 Overs Premier and First Divisions, as heavy rains experienced during the course of the past week left several fields in conditions deemed unplayable.

Somerset 230/1 v Somerset Bridge 107/7
(Somerset won by 123 runs at White Hill Field)

Photo Courtney of islandstats.com

Somerset travelled just down the road to visit arch-rivals Somerset Bridge and won handily, defeating the latter by 123 and maintaining a perfect record from three rounds of matches in the First Division.

Amari Ebbin came up three runs run short of a scoring a deserved century, when he was given out lbw to the bowling of Shawn Riley while attempting to sweep down the leg side, when a straight bat was in order on a damp pitch of variable bounce.

The wicket-keeper/batsman had put on 192 for the first wicket in partnering Matt Watson, who scored 73 not out, as the forced the home team’s bowlers to toil without reward among the lush expanse at White Hill Field.

Ebbin scored at a near run-a-ball clip and was rarely troubled despite many deliveries staying low, spraying shots to all areas and particularly attacking the leg-side, which ultimately led to his demise.

“To be honest I wasn’t aware of my score, I was really focused on getting the team score as high as I could,” said Ebbin of his knock, that included nine fours and one six. “I’ve scored a lot of centuries in the last few years and I really wasn’t worried too much about if one didn’t come this season.

“It was a really tough innings. The ball really was not coming on, balls were bouncing and turning side to side , so you had to really dig, soak it up and go as deep as we could and it was always going to be the last ten overs that we would really go.

“It was hard to hit the ball straight, so we decided to target the leg-side boundaries and that’s when we both started to accelerate.” With Watson content to turn over strike and act as a foil, Bridge’s fortunes did not improve with the dismissal of Ebbin, as Dominic Sabir put on a power display in the final overs, scoring 33 from just 19 balls, including two massive heaves over the rope and two fours that scorched the turf in racing away to the boundary.

Considering their penchant to struggle whether setting or chasing targets, 230 runs in a match reduced to 33 overs was a steep ask for Bridge and they got off to a poor start, with Neil Thakur falling for zero to Greg Maybury with three runs on the board.

Once Shawn Riley (14) spooned a ball bowled by Jermel Proctor that gripped the turf to Isaiah Richardson at short leg a procession began around Joshua Gilbert (45 not out), wjho stood helpless until joined by Noel Woods (30 not out) the pair preferring to exhaust the overs in an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 69.

“I thought it was a good performance,” said captain Jordan deSilva. “The wicked did a little bit, where we had to wait after the rain had stopped this morning.
“We got a good score and lost just one wicket, so we couldn’t complain after losing the toss and being sent in.
“Right now it’s just about beating the teams that are in front of us. Our expectation for ourselves is to go undefeated, so it was just another day at the office.”

Richardson was the pick of the Somerset bowlers, with figures of four for 14, while Proctor and Maybury took one wicket apiece.

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