St. David's 167-9

Southampton Rangers 169-4

Southampton appear to have St. David's' number as they beat the Premier League champions for the second time this season.

At Lord's yesterday, Southampton cruised to an emphatic six-wicket victory with David Ferreira striking 55 and veteran spinner and acting captain Keith Wainwright taking three wickets for 32 runs from eight overs, including a maiden, to maintain Rangers' title charge.

Both teams were minus key players for various reasons but the absentees seems to hurt the home team more than the visitors.

St. David's batting was shallow and imprecise with a huge burden placed on the shoulders of skipper Clay Smith who remained undefeated on 42 when his team's overs ran out.

The first four batsmen were the only players reaching double figures. Delyone Borden scored 36, Sammy Robinson 29, Glenn Blakeney 10 and then number four bat Smith came with the biggest contribution. The Islanders looked shaky from the beginning, starting slowly against some tight Southampton bowling and then floundering as they found themselves with a mere 114 runs on the board with just nine overs left.

Smith was forced to lift the tempo and his side were able to reach a respectable total, albeit far less than he would have liked. Restrained because of the lack of support at the other end, Smith struck three fours and two sixes while facing 52 balls.

Taking wickets for Southampton in addition to Wainwright was spinner David Saltus with two for 22 off 10 overs, with two maidens, while Olin Jones, also a spinner, had two for 32 from nine overs with a maiden.

Southampton coasted to victory off 34.4 overs, opener Ferreira leading the chase with a cool 55, striking nine fours and a six. Stevie Lightbourne followed with 25, Wainwright 24, Ian Armstrong 15 and Ricky Brangman 12 not out.

Ferreira and Wainwright put on 78 during the opening stand to lay the foundation for their easy triumph.

No St. David's bowler took more than one wicket.

St. George's 187

Cleveland 118

Fine bowling by Mark Ray, including a hat-trick, spearheaded St. George's to this comfortable 69-run victory over Cleveland at Wellington Oval.

Ray, who was the fifth bowler used by the club, finished with three wickets for 10 runs off three overs, including a maiden, to jolt Cleveland as they attempted to reach a winning target of 188.

Herbie Bascome took two for 32 off eight overs while Gregg Foggo had two for 35 off nine overs.

Anthony Bascome was top bat for Cleveland with 21 while Peter Philpott followed with 17, Greg Talbot 16 and Johnny Richardson 14.

St. George's reached their total thanks to a fine 52 from Travis Smith who struck two sixes and six fours. Charlie Marshall was next top bat with 31 (three sixes and two fours) while Freddy Hall hit 26. Veteran spinner Johnny Richardson took four for 30 off 8.4 overs while Philpott had two for 34 off six overs.