Nationals delivered a devastating blow to the title hopes of Willow Cuts, displaying their never-say-die attitude in successfully defending a meagre total in this affair at Somerset Cricket Club.

Reckless batting on the part of the west-end side also contributed to Cuts' downfall as they fell like dominoes chasing 102 on an easy-playing pitch.

Jason Lewis, opening the bowling for Nationals as they adapt to many changes, and first-change Gary Knight were the instigators of this overthrow as each claimed four wickets.

Lewis counted key early-order batsmen Dexter (18) and Richard Basden (nought) as his victims to have the home side in trouble at 20 for two and with Knight mowing through the middle order the die was cast on Cuts. Only veteran Rodney Fubler (21) was able to stand up in the face of this irrepressible two-man attack.

Earlier, Lewis had also starred with the bat after coming in and finding his team in trouble at 12 for two. He and Chris Wright (27) hooked up for a 61-run third-wicket partnership before Lewis was removed by Kevin Fubler for a personal contribution of 41. This signalled the start of a collapse that saw Cuts lose their final seven wickets for just 29 runs, going from 73 for three.

Fubler in fact accounted for the lion's share of the wickets, taking four wickets with his spinners and proving the lone bright spot on a gloomy day for Cuts.

Cuts remain in second place with the result but now trail Western Stars by 11 points with four games remaining, while Nationals have taken over sole possession of the fourth spot ahead of Cleveland.

Somerset Bridge 218 Police 221-9 Tony Cheeseman struck an unbeaten century and Brian Gibbons hammered 65, but these two fine batting performances by lowly Somerset Bridge still were not enough to prevent visiting Police from winning this game at White Hill field by one wicket.

Police, with tail-enders Patrick Waite and Jermaine Tucker adding 17 runs, won the exciting game with just two overs remaining. Tucker was not out with seven and Waite on when victory was reached.

It was not always a struggle for Police who got a solid start with opener Dennis Archer scoring 43 and number three bat David Greenidge 66. But with the score on 147 for two, two wickets fell without a run and Police were soon in trouble at 162 for six.

Dwayne Leverock contributed with 36 and number eight and nine batsmen Henderson Hoyte (20) and Randy Byer (22) also helped to stop the rut. But in the end it was left for the last two batsmen Waite and Tucker to show their heroics with the score 204 for nine -- and they managed to pull it off.

Bridge skipper David Jones took five for 68 while Cheeseman had two for 50.

Earlier, Cheeseman helped Bridge to this unusually high total against a formidable bowling attack with 100 runs, including 11 fours.

Jermaine Tucker claimed four for 43, Hoyte three for 42 and Leverock two for 68.

Hamilton Parish 170 St. David's 83 Skipper Ricky Hill turned in a good all-round performance yesterday to lead Hamilton Parish to a 87-run victory over St. David's at Lord's.

Batting first on the same ground, which produced lots of runs in Saturday's Eastern Counties Cup final, Hamilton Parish had to call on Hill to rescue his team with a flourishing innings of 71 after they were struggling at 57 for five. Hill and Irving Burgess (40) added 77 for the sixth wicket.

Lionel Cann, who a day earlier inspired St. David's with a fine batting performance, this time spearheaded them with the ball by taking seven wickets for 40 off 19.1 overs. Allen Richardson took two for 21.

St. David's lost four quick wickets for 24 runs and never really recovered.

Dean Pitcher (13) and Lionel Cann (21) resisted for a short while when they put on 20 for the fifth wicket, but once Pitcher was dismissed the end quickly came.

Terry Burgess was the top wicket-taker for Parish with five for 54 while Ricky Hill had three for 24 and Clevon Hill snatched two for none.

Somerset 192 St. George's 197-5 The last time Andre Manders took a team to Wellington Oval opposing captain Wendell Smith just missed out on becoming the first batsman to score 1,000 runs in Cup Match.

Yesterday against Somerset he joined Devonshire's Albert Steede in scoring 1,000 for the season when he hit his third century of the season to lead his team to a thrilling four-wicket win over the west-enders.

Both teams could field only 10 men and Somerset gave Smith a taste of his own medicine by keeping St. George's in the field until 4.51 p.m. before they were finally dismissed.

But the home team had the last laugh as their captain led from the front with an unbeaten 108 to secure victory with 2.5 overs remaining.

Smith smashed 10 fours, three sixes and a five in his match-winning knock, the eighth time in his last 10 innings that he has passed 50.

After losing Troy Hall when the score was 14, Smith and Graham Fox (27) added 55 for the second wicket. Somerset grabbed three wickets cheaply to have the home team at 96 for four before Smith and Eugene Foggo (32) turned the match back in their favour with a fifth-wicket stand of 83.

Manders, who had earlier topped the Somerset batting with 41, also led his team's bowling with three for 59 from 13 overs. Jermaine Warner was next high man for Somerset with 35 while Shannon Warner scored 24 and Cordell Gilbert 21 not out. Charles Swan hit a valuable 21 in the tail-end.

Spinners David Adams and Eugene Foggo bowled 47.3 overs unchanged between them and led the St. George's bowling with four for 76 and four for 60 respectively.

Warwick 157 Bailey's Bay 161-6 After nine-man Warwick gave them a scare, Bailey's Bay stayed in the title race thanks to an unbeaten, seventh-wicket stand of 60 between Anthony Braithwaite and teenager Tajmal Webb at Sea Breeze Oval.

Warwick sensed an upset when medium-pacers Hoyte Zuill and Estron Ferguson had Bay in some trouble at 101 for six, having taken three wickets for 14 runs, after top bats Glenn Smith and Charlie Marshall had gone cheaply.

But Braithwaite, with four sixes and two fours, led the recovery with an unbeaten 47 and teenager Webb at the other end showed tremendous character with an unbeaten 24. Openers Chris Smith (29) and Cal Dill (20) had put on 49 for the first wicket before Ferguson got the breakthrough.

Bay got some relief when Johnny Nusum came on for Ferguson and gave up 20 runs in his two overs and by the time Ferguson came back on the match was out of Warwick's reach. Ferguson finished with three for 54 from 10.4 overs while Zuill claimed three for 52 from 15 overs.

Nusum hit six fours and four sixes in hitting 81, his best knock of the season, while Zuill chipped in with 21 not out and Kallan Johnston 18.

Jermaine Outerbridge was the most successful Bay bowler with three for 30 from nine overs while Dennis Pilgrim took two for 19 and Glenn Smith, opening the bowling in the absence of Clarkie Trott, two for 28 from 12 overs.

Flatts 285-4 dec.

Social Club 156-6 Ten-man Flatts enjoyed a run feast against Social Club at Devonshire Rec.

field to earn maximum batting bonus points, but their opponents hung on to deny them their second win of the season.

Captain Rodney Woolridge led the Flatts batting with 100 not out. He hit 10 fours and four sixes. Derek Wright also got amongst the runs with 61 not out, which included six sixes and two fours. Kevin Hurdle (35), Brandon Woolridge (41) and James Bean (22) also made good contributions.

Lee Raynor, Sr., batting at number three, helped deny Flatts victory with 47 before being bowled by John Carey. Cecil Tucker was there at the close with 33 not out while Webster Mills hit 25 as an opener.

Mackie Woolridge, opening the bowling with Floyd Smith, had impressive figures of four for 26 from 21 overs of spin.

Cleveland 228 Southampton 201-6 Keith Wainwright hammered his third century of the season but visiting Cleveland County still were able to draw this game at Southampton Oval.

Wainwright spearheaded the home team in their fightback only to have bad light halt play when they came within 27 runs of their opponents' score.

Wainwright cracked 102, including 10 fours and three sixes, while skipper Ricky Brangman was not out with 34 and Clevie Wade made 20.

Corey Lowe was the best bowler for Cleveland with two for 42 while Del Hollis claimed two for 51.

Cleveland were able to reach a formidable total earlier, thanks to some fine batting by Hollis who scored 66. Also among the runs were skipper Peter Philpott with 38, Allan Douglas 36 and Aaron Adams 28.

Quinton Burch led the Southampton bowling attack with three for 34 while Clevie Wade had two for 49.

I CAN BOWL TOO -- Jason Lewis took four wickets to Lead Nationals to an unlikely win over title-chasing Willow Cuts.