Treadwell Gibbons scored a century before retiring with cramp as a Bermuda Select secured a comfortable victory over Bahamas in their tour opener yesterday.

Gibbons, who shared in an opening stand of 137 with Pierre Smith in 27 overs, was dropped six times — on 2, 24, 51, 63, 81 and 90 — before reaching his century with a leg glance for four, before limping off next ball. He did not take to the field in the Bahamas innings.

The Bermuda Select, captained by Oronde Bascome, proved too strong for the visitors as Gibbons and Smith laid a good foundation with 94 runs on the board after 20 overs, with Gibbons on 50 and Smith on 32. Gibbons brought up the hundred with a six over square leg in the 22nd over off Guyanese-born spinner Bhymeshur Jagroo.

The stand was eventually broken when Smith was bowled by Marc Taylor for 50 with the last ball of the 27th over.

Smith batted for 114 minutes, faced 81 balls and hit four fours, playing a supporting role for Gibbons, who finished on 102 from 109 balls, and hit ten fours and two sixes.

Dalin Richardson, the Bermuda Under-19 captain, helped Bermuda pass the 250 mark with a useful 37 in the middle order before he was trapped leg-before by captain Gregory Taylor.

He faced 22 balls and hit two fours and two sixes, before Q’Shai Darrell ended the innings with 20 not out.

“We dropped about six catches, Gibbons got a hundred and that shouldn’t have happened,” captain Taylor admitted. “We have to take our catches in the next matches.

“We don’t play on turf at home, so we’re trying to adjust to that, and we also don’t play 50-overs cricket, so we’re looking to do better with the Twenty20s. Most of our players are Bahamian, with one or two Guyanese and two Jamaicans.”

Taylor and Rudolph Fox took three wickets each, with Taylor finishing with three for 53 from ten overs and Fox three for 63 off nine.

Asked to score at more than five runs an over, Bahamas were in early trouble at 21 for two by the seventh over and 45 for four after 11 overs with Mackih McGowan, who plays in the league for Cleveland, taking the first four wickets.

A fifth-wicket stand of 40 between Ryan Tappin and Junior Scott made things interesting with some well-struck boundaries.

Tappin was the top scorer with 24 from 31 balls with three fours while Scott hit two fours and a six for 19 before he was smartly stumped off Kwasi James to make it 85 for five in the seventeenth over.

“Tappin is from Guyana, a decent batter, and Scott is a very good player, too,” Taylor added. “We’re looking to do better in the T20s, it’s just a matter of getting adjusted to the pitch. At home we play on matting, but we used to have turf.”

The last five Bahamas wickets fell for just 22 runs in nine overs as James finished with three for 19 from five overs after McGowan claimed four for 29 off seven.

Youngsters Cameron Jeffers and Oyinde Bascome picked up the last two wickets to complete the victory.

Herbie Bascome, the Bermuda coach, was pleased with the way the young players performed, singling out Gibbons, Dalin Richardson, wicketkeeper Amari Ebbin and McGowan.

“It’s a good platform for these guys to show off their talent, these games when countries come here and play are very important for these guys,” Bascome said. “With Treaddy the heat seemed to have a toll on him. He hasn’t been playing too much cricket here lately, but he battled through it. He got cramp because his body was fatigued, lacking water. Nothing serious, he’ll be up and running tomorrow.

“My son [Oyinde] came just in case we were short because of work commitments and ended up bowling and getting the last wicket. At 16, he didn’t show any nerves and ended up knocking back the stumps.”

Bascome will use the opening match to find the right balance for the 3pm match, which will be treated as an international match, as will the second match on Sunday at the National Sports Centre.

“We’re looking at using pretty much all the players tomorrow, as we’re preparing for an international tournament,” he said. “In the 3.00 game, we’ll be putting out our best players.”