Southampton Rangers thrashed Somerset Bridge by 234 runs in the opening round of the Western Counties at PHC Field last Saturday.

Led by Tre Manders’s maiden century in the competition, and equally brisk half-centuries from captain Dion Stovell and guest player Allan Douglas Jr, the champions piled up 335 for seven in their allotted 50 overs after being sent to bat.

Left-arm spinner and guest player Derrick Brangman then claimed four wickets to finish the job off in a hurry as challengers Bridge were skittled in 39.2 overs for 101.

Early order batsman Manders smashed 11 boundaries and a six in an aggressive innings of 102 from 104 balls and featured in a 158-run third-wicket partnership with Stovell that all but sealed Bridge’s fate.

“It feels good to get my first century in the competition,” Manders said. “I am in good nick right now and making a lot of runs. I played for PHC as a guest player before and got 50-something against Rangers. Now I’ve scored a century for Rangers, which is crazy.

“It was a pretty good knock and I kept my head in it. It was really hot so I had to stay in it and I felt good.”

Stovell hailed his team-mate’s impressive innings.

“I thought it was a good batting performance by Tre who shows his class every week and is probably the best batsman in Bermuda,” he said.

“A guy like Tre can score runs in any format of the game and I think there’s a lot more runs for him to come.”

Manders and Stovell came together at the crease in the 24th over with Rangers 99 for two and completely destroyed Bridge’s bowling attack with some aggressive stroke play and excellent running between the stumps to place their team in a position of strength.

“Running ones and twos kills any team off and I thought some of Bridge’s players were out of shape,” Stovell added.

The partnership was finally broken in the 44th over when Stovell departed for an aggressive 80 from 60 balls, which included six fours and a six.

However, the reprieve was temporary for Bridge as Douglas belted seven sixes and two fours in a whirlwind knock of 61 from just 22 balls to power Rangers past 300.

Noel Woods produced Bridge’s best bowling figures of three for 80. Bridge found themselves in deep trouble at 19 for five early in their run chase.

A battling 53-run stand between opener Joshua Gilbert (28) and wicketkeeper Scott Tucker (38) only delayed the inevitable as wickets started tumbling again at regular intervals once both batsmen were removed in the space of four runs.

Brangman finished with four for 17 while new-ball partner Janeiro Tucker, the Rangers player-coach, claimed two for 18 with his seam.

“To be fair to Bridge, I thought they played the game in good spirits,” Stovell said.

“They have a good group of guys and I just thought on the day they played against a team that was up for the game.”

Rangers will face PHC in the second round of the competition at PHC Field on Saturday.