St. George's 194-9 Asked to score 78 in the last 10 overs in an innings already reduced to 45 overs as a penalty for a slow bowling rate, St. George's defied the odds to beat Stars by one wicket on the last ball of this Camel Cup semi-final at Police Field on Saturday.

When Stars picked up the wickets of captain Herbie Bascome and Ricky Hodsoll in the space of eight runs to make it 139-7, they were in the driver's seat.

Bascome had just hit two sixes off Treadwell Gibbons and was going for a third when he skied a catch to Ricky Brangman at long-on.

However, Stars failed to seize the initiative as some slack fielding allowed the St. George's tail-enders to pull off a dramatic victory.

Ricky Brangman dropped Sinclair Gibbons on the boundary before the latter struck a well deserved 22 not out which included a well-hit six and four off the Brangman brothers, Gary and Allan. Gibbons added 27 for the ninth wicket in an important stand with Ryan Steede (2) before scoring 15 off the last 12 balls of the innings with David Adams for victory.

The pair managed seven in the penultimate over which began with Steede's dismissal on the first ball. On the first ball of the final over, Allan Brangman bowled a wide to Adams who then managed to tie the score with one ball remaining.

As long as St. George's did not lose their final wicket on the last ball they would win by virtue of having lost fewer wickets. Gibbons was content to play the ball to the covers where Justin Robinson, accepting defeat, kicked it away enabling the batsmen to take three runs and win the match outright.

Treadwell Gibbons was high man for Stars with 63 and also claimed three for 26 while Arnold Manders stroked 41 and had two for 35. Gary Brangman claimed two for 26.

"At the end we figured we were going to need a run a ball so we would need the straighter batsmen for the finish,'' said captain Bascome.

Bailey's Bay 238 Police 113 Police made early progress after Bay won the toss and decided to take first strike in the other semi-final at Wellington Oval.

Bay were in trouble at 61-4 by the 15th over. But captain Charlie Marshall, as he has so often done in the past, came to the rescue with a well-timed century that separated the teams.

Marshall stroked 11 fours and four sixes in his 106 before he was caught and bowled by Freston Hurdle to be last out. But it was a fifth wicket stand of 146 with Irving Burgess (42) in 27 overs that turned the match around.

The other significant contribution in the batting came from opener Dennis Trott, whose 26 helped steady the ship after Ricky Hill, Glenn Blakeney and Irving Romaine had all gone cheaply.

Hurdle was the pick of the Police bowlers, taking six for 38 off 9.2 overs while Rohan Moore, his new ball partner, claimed two for 62 from 10.

After losing their first wicket in the first over, Police made a brief recovery with 44 for the second wicket between Andrew Rollins (17) and Ferdinand Thorne (23), before the breakthrough signalled the slide. From 49-2, Police quickly slumped to 80-7 as Trott also enjoyed a five wicket haul, finishing with five for 29.

Spinner Damon Edwards, out of the game for a couple of seasons, returned to take two for 27 off 10 overs which also included five maidens.