Barry Richards had his nose smashed and injured an eye while fielding in the slips but West Indian Association survived a bruising encounter to claw their way to a narrow victory over Western Stars and forge a four-point lead at the top of the Commercial Cricket League standings.

Elsewhere, Forties hammered St. David?s by eight wickets to take second place while the North Village-Fine Leg Byes match scheduled for the Royal Naval Field was controversially called off on Sunday morning because of rain which eventually gave way to a fine afternoon.

Village, last season?s runners-up to Jamaican Association, who had a bye, want the game rescheduled for Cup Match Sunday, a free week in the Commercial schedule, and yesterday filed a protest with league secretary Dave Carruthers.

Richards, an explosive left-handed opening batsman who flew back to the Island shortly before the match, had not intended to play but turned out because West Indian Association were short for a fixture that was reduced to 35 overs-a-side because of a late start.

The match was well under way but 38-year-old Richards, had been on the field for only four balls when Wayne Campbell edged a ball from Junior Watts ?that came like a bat out of hell, hit the tip of my finger, smashed my glasses and broke my nose?.

Added Richards: ?I went to hospital. My right eye is all swollen. The ball almost knocked my eye out. If it wasn?t for my plastic glasses, which were broken but didn?t shatter, I could have lost my eye.?

Richards, a Police officer who has taken a few days off work but hopes to be fit for this Sunday?s match against Village, wasn?t the only WIA player in the wars.

Chris Clarke, WIA?s hero, was twice struck in the head ? once trying to hook pace bowler Allan Brangman and the other time when an Anthony Russell beamer flew off his glove ? but shrugged off the injuries to blast seven sixes and three fours in a gutsy knock of 72 to help guide WIA to an improbable two-wicket victory.

Brangman, who played Cup Match for Somerset in 1993, had WIA on the ropes at 33 for five with four early wickets after ten-man Western Stars had posted 135 for four in their 35 overs. He returned to dismiss Jerry Callender, who helped Clarke steer WIA out of early trouble, for 21 to finish with five for 33 from 11 overs.

Although Richards returned to the ground and said he would have been prepared to bat, Stars missed the chance to share the points when, with the scores level, Phillip Lawrence dropped a skier from Watts near the boundary, the ninth-wicket pair scampering through to seal victory with nine overs to spare.

Earlier Stars? total was built around useful knocks by Maurice Lowe (38 not out), Brangman?s unbeaten 34, and 32 from Campbell. Fast bowler Stan Francis and slow bowler Allan Lee took two wickets apiece for WIA.

St. David?s elected to bat after winning the toss at Garrison Field but were reduced to 15 for four by the swing bowling of Brian Holdipp and Blake West. Skipper Maclaren Lowe gave the total an air of respectability by lashing five sixes and a four at number five before he was ninth out for 54 with the total 98, St. David?s closing on 109 in 31 overs.

Holdipp, who bowled danger man Shay Pitcher for a duck, finished with four for 27 from ten overs while leg-break bowler Oscar Andrade, who missed a hat-trick when wicketkeeper Braxton Stowe dropped a difficult catch, claimed four for 38 from seven overs.

Forties, fielding seven players over the age of 50, lost Gerald Bean early and skipper Gordon Campbell ran himself out for 18 with the total 59 but an unbroken stand of 52 between Gladwin Ingham (39 not out) and Brian Brangman (33 not out) carried the team to victory in 28 overs.

Village spokesman Wendell Lindsay said he had two phone calls at home from Fine Leg Byes? Angus Lynn on Sunday morning about calling the game off but told him he could not make a premature decision.

?When he called again at around 11.45 a.m. he told me he had already told his players the game was off so I had no choice but to go along with it,? said Lindsay.

Lindsay, who was able to reach only half his team by phone, then had to drive from Bailey?s Bay to the Royal Naval Field where he found half a dozen of his players ready to play.

Said Lynn: ?Both Wendell and I had received calls on Sunday morning asking if the game was on ? so it obviously looked very doubtful to both sides. We made a decision to try not to waste everyone?s afternoon which, at the time, seemed like a good thing to do.

?We had several players travelling on bikes from the East End and I wanted to make a decision before they set off rather than have them head out there in the rain only to be sent back. Turns out we probably could have played most or all of the game but the decision was made.

?We weren?t sure if a replay was necessary or if we should split the points. A replay would be hard to schedule but if we don?t do it, it might have some effect on the results at the end of the season.?