Tired Guernsey defeated

BERMUDA will have at least one piece of silverware to take home with them to the Caribbean next month, regardless of their performance at the ICC Trophy in Ireland. Gus Logie's side looked at home under a hot Eastbourne sun as they defeated Guernsey by six wickets with 10 balls to spare and with it became the first recipients of the new Bermuda-Guernsey Challenge Cup provided by Butterfield Bank (Guernsey).

In defeat the Sarnians had little to be dispirited about.

There have been several pluses to take from the three match tour, but by the end at the Saffrons ground, the greens were visibly wilting after a third straight day under a hot sun, which will have suited the Caribbean outfit as they're climatised to UK pitch conditions after just four days in the country.

Like Namibia, the Bermudians, are confident of winning one of the five World Cup qualifying spots available at the ICC Trophy.

Logie, who played for the West Indies at a time when they ruled the world, has only been in the job eight weeks and is eager to make an impression.

However, he had no qualms about leaving his captain and best batsman, Clayton Smith, on the sidelines as they were made to work hard to overhaul Guernsey's 178 for nine on a second-day pitch that got slower and lower as the day wore on.

The Sarnians made one change to the team that performed so admirably against Namibia with all-rounder Aaron Scoones coming in for Matt Oliver.

The greens still went with a left-hander at the top of the order, though, skipper Andy Biggins promoting himself to open with Lee Savident on a track that offered the Bermudian seamers more assistance than the Hastings flat bed of the previous day.

Guernsey will be looking for big runs from Savident as they embark on their international adventure, but the tall former Hampshire first-teamer collected his second failure in successive days when he was caught at short mid-off in only the third over.

The tall Ryan Steede was causing early problems and he struck again with the first ball of his fifth over, banging one in short and inducing a feint edge from Biggins who had looked to upper-cut over the slips.

Four overs later Steede had the greens three down, Banerjee edging to second slip where Albert Steede took a fine catch tumbling low to his left.

Stuart Le Prevost joined his Cobo team-mate Frith in a stand of 46 of which he contributed 20, but when Delwont Borden enticed him out of his crease, keeper Dean Minors had the bails off smartly and Le Prevost was on his way.

But, for the second day running, Frith and Duke came to the rescue on a slow track making strokeplay difficult.

Jenero Tucker, the Bermuda skipper, slowed the pace with the introduction of spinners OJ Pitcher, Dwayne Leverock and Borden, with the medium-paced Lionel Cann pushing through five tight overs to mix things up.

The fifth-wicket pair played patiently without alarm.

The hundred came up in the 36th over and by the 40-over point was reached Frith was on 49, Duke 20 and Guernsey were on 124 hopeful of major acceleration and a total close to the 200 mark.

But Frith had no sooner completed his half-century than he stepped down the wicket and launched Saleem Mukuddem high to the long on boundary where he was held by Irving Romaine.

Andre van Rooyen and Divan van den Heever went cheaply for the combined total of four runs and five balls faced, and when Duke perished having a heave, Guernsey were suddenly in danger of not utilising their full allotment.

But Gary Rich (14) and Scoones (six) brought a few late cheers from the main Saffrons clubhouse and lifted the total to 178 for nine.

As well as the Sarnians bowled, they simply did not have enough runs to defend.

Another 40 might have produced a close finish but after a second shaky start in 24 hours, the greens did well to recover and post a decent score against a tight attack much more experienced in the wiles of one-day international cricket.

As Bermuda edged their way to victory, no person bowled better than Ami Banerjee, who bowled straight through and was unlucky to go wicket-less in a 10-over spell yielding just 12 runs.

Savident again went some way to atoning for a batting failure with a good spell that bought him a wicket, but the spinners found little joy.

That said, Rich did manage to get rid of the cocky Chris Foggo, who consistently batted two feet out of his crease even through Justin Ferbrache was standing up to the stumps.

Foggo eventually paid for that disrespect to bowler and keeper alike, being smartly stumped for 24 to give Guernsey their third wicket.

At that point the blues were struggling at 74 for three at halfway, but thereafter there was little joy for the greens.

Captain Biggins even gambled by throwing the ball to the injured van den Heever who had not bowled since straining his side in the opening win against a Horsham Select XI.

The left-armer was clearly under par and lasted one mediocre over.

By now the fourth-wicket pair of Mukuddem and Romaine were dictating and the two took their side to the verge of victory.

The burly Romaine was still there at the end, having struck six fours in his watchful 69.

By the end some of Guernsey's out cricket was shoddy, but after three tough days requiring a concentration level far in excess of the norm, it was perhaps not surprising.