Southampton Rangers 126-8

Western Stars 127-7

In a closely fought encounter at St. John's Field, Western Stars defeated Premier Division leaders Southampton Rangers, slashing the gap at the top of the table.

It was a match in which both sides would admit they batted poorly, with the top-order batsmen lacking the patience and appropriate shot selection to build a decent total.

Chasing a meagre 126 on a sluggish pitch which turned from the start, Stars were rescued from potential embarrassment by their South African import Saleem Mukuddem, who skilfully demonstrated the necessity of playing straight on wickets such as this one with a determined and level-headed 41 not out.

He was aided along the way by important and entertaining lower order contributions from Hassan Durham, Dwayne Leverock and Kevin Hurdle, the latter finishing the match in impressive style with a towering six over mid-on.

This was after Stars' top order had been blown away by the persistent medium pace of Rangers' opening bowler Gary Williams in the first ten overs. His nagging off-stump line and unflinching accuracy had Stars reeling at one stage at 30 for four before Mukuddem entered the fray and steadied the ship.

With much at stake, there were a number of unsavoury incidents which soured the atmosphere of the match. Principle among these was when Stars' left arm spinner and lower order batsman Dwayne Leverock had to be restrained by his captain Albert Steede, after the veteran took exception to the Rangers wicketkeeper Kwame Tucker claiming a catch that Leverock felt had clearly bounced.

Having been given out by umpire George Francis, Leverock refused to leave the crease, preferring to argue with the celebrating Rangers players. He was only persuaded to return to the pavilion after a heated consultation with his captain.

The match was also marred by the constant and, some would say unnecessary, appealing of the Rangers side - a fact which both umpires alluded to at the close of play.

Earlier, after Steede had won the toss and elected to field, the Rangers batsmen struggled to play fluidly against a highly disciplined Stars opening attack and were stalling at 22 for one off 15 overs.

Further pressure was applied in the middle of the innings by Stars' veteran spin twins Leverock and Arnold Manders, with Leverock in particular bowling with intelligence and guile to claim match figures of three for 18 and reduce Rangers to 71 for seven with 20 overs remaining.

However, a gritty innings of 20 not out by the young Rohann Simons, who undoubtedly rode his luck in partnership with Dwia Blyden and then Gary Williams, dragged the Rangers total painstakingly towards something resembling respectability but which was, in reality, about 50 runs short of a winning total.

Afterwards, Stars' captain Albert Steede was delighted with the victory and maintained his team had wrestled the psychological advantage away from Rangers going into the final three games of the Premier Division season.

"I think we are now more confident and on more of a roll than all the other teams in the running," he said. "We also have a slightly easier road left in terms of fixtures. But it will probably go down to the wire which is great for Bermudian cricket."