Western Stars put the chop on Willow Cuts when they sent their high riding, west-end counterparts tumbling to their first defeat of the season yesterday at St. John's field.

After tight bowling by the home side dominated the opening session and restricted the visitors to a low total it was time for the opening bats of Stars to shine, with Treadwell Gibbons and Gregory Sampson in leading roles.

Taking the pitch with just over an hour in addition to the mandatory 20 overs to work with, Gibbons and Sampson set about carving a path through Cuts' attack.

Gibbons, in particular, delighted as he punished anything wayward, combining several fine cut shots and timely pulls. Aggressive running between the wicket also served to test Cuts and more often than not they failed.

The pair raced to 47 from the first six overs, as both Rodney Fubler and Garry Williams were treated harshly, forcing opposing skipper Dexter Basden to call on the slow bowlers.

While Sampson played the role of the stabiliser, Gibbons continued to flourish.

Gibbons survived a chance when on 28 as Davon Wade spilled a straightforward catch at deep mid-wicket, but his luck ran out as he mistimed a late cut off Kevin Fubler and was smartly snapped up by Vivian Simons at first slip for 50 with the total 93.

Three more wickets tumbled in the space of three runs as Jeff Richardson (nought), Andre Manders (one) and Arnold Manders (nought) joined Gibbons in a procession back to the pavilion.

All were victims of Simons', whose left-arm leg-breaks garnered him four wickets on the day.

Still there was Sampson, patiently plodding his way while wickets collapsed all around.

He put on 35 with Cleon Scotland (19), before Scotland spooned a chance to Dexter Basden at mid-off. And after number seven batsman Roger Leverock departed for eight the situation had Stars needing 23 runs from four overs, with Gary Brangman taking guard in rapidly fading light.

The result became a formality once Brangman took 11 runs from Williams' sixth over, but fittingly it was Sampson knocking off the winning runs and finishing unbeaten on 60. He batted 160 minutes with four fours coming off his bat.

Apart from Simons, Williams and Kevin Fubler took one wicket apiece.

Meanwhile, earlier in the afternoon saw Simons top score for Cuts with 43, followed by Dexter Basden, Wade (23) and Richard Basden (28) as they crawled to 175 after batting for nearly five hours.

Wayne Richardson claimed his best figures of the season with five for 75 from 27.4 overs while Brangman notched three for 28. Hasan Durham and Arnold Manders took one wicket each.

Social Club 112 Bailey's Bay 115-7 When Dennis Pilgrim drove a half-volley from Cecil Tucker to the long-off boundary for the winning runs a sigh of relief could be heard around Sea Breeze Oval yesterday.

The home team may not necessarily have reached the panic stage, with five runs needed and three wickets in hand, but they did make hard work of a Social Club team who battled right to the end.

Despite moving from 21 for one to 89 before their second wicket fell, Bay suddenly found the final hurdle hard to clear in their quest for a fourth straight league win as some tight bowling by the experienced pair of Vance Gilbert and Tucker made runs hard to come by.

Captain Chris Smith and Charlie Marshall laid the foundation for what should have been a comfortable victory by adding 62 for the second wicket. But the end of Marshall's 60-ball knock of 34 signalled a collapse as Glenn Smith then went without scoring -- also lbw.

Gilbert, formerly of Willow Cuts, and Tucker, once of Western Stars, kept on the pressure and suddenly Bay's batting began to look suspect as Clarkie Trott and Anthony Braithwaite in the middle order also went cheaply. Smith was high man for Bay with 36 while the other opener Cal Dill, Jr. scored 20.

Gilbert, operating in two seven-over spells, finished with four for 37 while Tucker claimed three for 26 from 13.5 tight overs.

"Our main goal is to improve our cricket,'' said Social Club captain Dwayne Adams who added the team are tired of their `whipping boys' tag. On Saturday they had a draw with Southampton Rangers.

"When we go to fields we want teams to say `we have to play'.'' On Sunday, Social Club's top order fell to the bowling of Braithwaite, who claimed four for 41 from 11 overs and it was left to the tail-end pair of Derek Saltus and Ben Alexander to rescue them from 63 for eight with a stand of 49 for the ninth wicket.

The partnership was broken when the left-hander Saltus holed out to Glenn Smith at mid-wicket for 33 and last man Allan Francis had a stump uprooted in the next over by Charlie Marshall to leave Alexander not out on 11. Gilbert and number three bat Thomas Brangman both scored 12.

Somerset 222-6 dec. Southampton 154-4 Somerset and Southampton battled to a tame draw at Somerset Cricket Club.

Sent in first, Somerset scored slowly against the Rangers attack. Wayne Ball (33) and Perry Maybury (36) though were able to get among the runs early in the innings, while top scorer James Swan (39 not out) and Jamie Cann (21 not out) propped up the tail.

Rangers seemed content bat out a draw, with useful contributions coming from Quinton Burch (31 not out) and Kwame Tucker (27 not out).

MAJOR SCALP -- Western Stars are glad to see the back of Richard Basden, bowled by Gary Brangman, left, for 28 in yesterday's big match.