Somerset 230-8 Devonshire Rec. 235-6 Albert Steede's whirlwind innings of 108 not out enabled Premier Division champions Devonshire Rec. to successfully respond to a respectable 230 put up by the west-enders in this game at Devonshire on Saturday that the home team won by four wickets.

Steede tore the heart out of the Somerset bowling attack, which did in fact share some joy when they snatched opener Donald Norford (one) with only four runs scored.

But most of the jubiliation at the ground afterwards was experienced by Devonshire fans who watched with admiration as Steede launched a relentless attack on the depleted attack.

Joining opener Lloyd Morrison (31) after the loss of the first wicket, Steede was the dominant partner in every stand in which he was involved.

His century came up off 115 balls and his stay at the wicket lasted 165 minutes during which time he struck four sixes and eight fours.

The largest stand saw Steede and Leon Place (31) put on 77 for the fourth wicket, then Steede and James Pace (24) added 56 for the fifth wicket.

Perry Maybury was the best Somerset bowler with two for 23 off his 10 overs while Charles Swan had two for 50 off 10 overs and skipper Andre Manders proved costly taking two for 50 but off only 7.3 overs.

It was a good day all-round for Maybury who scored 53 runs, second only to his skipper who led Somerset's batting with a solid knock of 72. Others among the runs were Rahji Edness with 26, Cordell Gilbert 16 not out and Gladwin Edness with 12.

Devonshire's skipper Anthony Amory led his team's bowling with three for 64.

Southampton 221 Police 222-9 Police brushed aside a spirited fightback by their opponents to squeeze by with a one-wicket victory and only four balls to spare in this interesting clash at Police field.

Rescuing Police at this criticial stage when they needed nine runs to win from the remaining 10 balls were tail-enders Odell Clarke and Ossie Hinds who had earlier led their bowling attack by taking three wickets for 27 runs.

It was eventually left for Clarke to play the hero's role when he made the winning stroke by pulling Ricky Brangman's delivery to the square-leg boundary for four. Clarke was not out with 10 while Hinds was not out with zero.

However, Southampton had themselves to blame for letting the home team get that close because Police skipper Ferdinand Thorne was allowed to spearhead his team's chase after the winning target of 222 after being dropped a number of times. One easy miss came when he was on 23, Clevie Wade spilling the chance at mid-on.

With luck on his side -- despite producing some flourishing strokes -- Thorne went on to score 66 and particpated in a number of crucial stands before he was dismissed with the total on 213.

In addition to Thorne, Police got runs from opener Dennis Archer (38), Roger Blades (29) and Michael Jackman (23). Wade took two for 25, Quinton Burch two for 50 and Stevie Lightbourne two for 60.

Earlier, Southampton made a game of it by reaching a formidable score, thanks mainly to a last-wicket stand of 48 between Janeiro Tucker (48) and Kwame Tucker (14 not out).

Also among the runs were Olin Jones with 47, Wade with 39 and Ricky Brangman with 16. Jackman was the other top bowler for Police with three for 40.

Bailey's Bay 258-5 Nationals 102 Bailey's Bay romped to their third straight win in the Gold section on Saturday at Sea Breeze Oval as Glenn Smith, Charlie Marshall and Noel Gibbons all produced with the bat on the way to a comfortable 156-run win.

Smith, returning to the team after being dropped last weekend, led the Bay batting with seven fours and three sixes in a knock of 59 as he and Marshall (47) shared in a third-wicket stand of 87 after Bay lost captain Chris Smith with just four on the board and then Richard Foggo was dismissed for 27 when the score was 57.

Glenn Smith departed on 144 and Marshall joined him four runs later, both victims to youngster Andre Martin who finished with two for 31 from his 10 overs. But Bay kept the runs coming in the middle order as Noel Gibbons hit 47 not out and Clarkie Trott, promoted to number six, smashed seven boundaries in his 38 as he and Gibbons put on 70 for the fifth wicket.

Anthony Braithwaite finished with 21 not out as Mark Ray supported Martin with two for 46 from seven overs. Chris Wright proved costly in his 10 overs, giving up 76 runs.

Bay needed just 35.1 overs to dismiss Nationals as Trott, Gibbons, Ricky Hodsoll and Jermaine Outerbridge all took two wickets apiece after Braithwaite failed to take a wicket in his six overs. Hodsoll was the most economical, giving up just 19 runs from his 10 overs.

Opener Lloyd Fray and number four bat Jason Lewis were joint top scorers for Nationals with 19 each as the team slumped from 95 for four to 102 all out on the way to their third straight loss.

Flatts 257-6 Willow Cuts 225 Willows Cuts put up a tremendous last-hour fightback against Flatts but in the end they could not prevent themselves from falling to their third successive defeat.

In what turned out to be a very entertaining match at the Royal Naval Field, Flatts piled up 257 runs on the easy-playing astroturf wicket aided by half-centuries from Troy Dean (51) and Brandon Woolridge (51 not out).

Cuts were made to toil in the midday heat and struggled for an early breakthrough as Dean and Andrew Richardson (18) recorded a 45-run opening partnership before Richardson was trapped lbw by Rodney Fubler.

Their joy was short-lived however as new batsman Derek Wright (32) quickly settled in with Dean to add a further 69 and take the score past the century mark to 114.

Dexter Basden then caught both Wright and Dean without addition to the total but the runs kept flowing as Floyd Smith contributed a valuable 36 runs before James Bean (24 not out) closed out the innings with Woolridge.

Rodney Fubler had the best bowling figures of two four 41 while Gregory (Ribs) Simons -- the fifth bowler used -- came in for some harsh treatment, his six overs costing 47 runs.

Top-scoring for the west-end team was Winslow (Scaley) Williams, who threw caution to the wind as he stroked the ball about the pitch.

Not known for his batting prowess Williams, in at number seven, showed the top-order batsmen how it should be done, carving out a quick 32 runs.

He and number six Wayne Ball (23) took the score from a precarious 90 for five to a more respectable 134 when they were both sent back to the pavilion in successive overs.

It appeared as if Cuts would finally cave in but the tail wagged as last pair Simons (27) and Kevin Lapsley (21) made it close, slugging it out until Lapsley's stumps were finally parted by Brandon Woolridge 32 runs short of the target.

It was the first win of the season for Flatts who had lost to Bailey's Bay and Devonshire Rec. in previous limited-overs matches in the Gold Division.

ALBERT STEEDE -- His unbeaten knock of 108 was the difference in Devonshire's four-wicket win over Somerset.