Cleveland 153-8 Stubborn resistance by Cleveland's batsmen threw a wrench in the Bailey's Bay challenge for the Premier Division title at Sea Breeze Oval yesterday.

Going into the day in second place behind leaders Police, Bay were counting on a victory to maintain a firm grip on their position. Instead they could do no better than to play to a draw.

Sent in to bat after tea, Cleveland got a good start when Grant Smith and Curtis Jackson put on 72 for the first wicket, Smith scoring 26 and Jackson 39.

But once they were separated the bowlers got on top and Cleveland lost six more wickets before the century came. While veteran Allan Douglas was able to offer some resistance nobody else managed to stay around and hopes of a shock victory soon vanished.

Spinner Damon Edwards was the top bowler for Bay with four for 33 while Clarkie Trott had two for 20.

Earlier Bay reached a respectable total and were able to offer a challenging declaration thanks to good knocks from Charlie Marshall who was undefeated on 45 and Glenn Smith who hammered 40 off just 22 balls, striking two fours and four sixes. Johnny Richardson led Cleveland with five for 75 while Diallo Sharrieff had two for 46.

Flatts 57 Western Stars 58-0 Western Stars produced a commanding performance at St. John's field yesterday as they demolished a weak Flatts Victoria outfit by 10 wickets.

With the victory Stars moved into second place in the Premier League, 15 points behind leaders Police.

But it was the ease by which the Pembroke club were able to defeat their opponents that will send ripples through the division.

On a slow pitch that favoured spin, former captain Gary Brangman was able to prevail over the visiting batsmen with his medium-pace, capturing three wickets, including that of opener Millard Bean who was caught behind by Anthony Manders on the first ball of the game.

Flatts, in fact, stood at nought for two at one stage as Brangman also sent skipper Troy Dean packing. His other victim was Andrew Richardson.

Following on the heels of these early successes, Stars quickly introduced spin into the attack with Wayne Richardson and Arnold Manders able to effectively shackle the batsmen.

Richardson claimed two-for-26, while Manders had remarkable figures of two-for-two from a mere three overs. Hassan Durham also chipped in with two-for-seven.

Flatts' best partnership was 20 between top scorer Derek Wright (16) and Aaron Woolridge (10).

Stars required little more than a half hour to reach the set target as Treadwell Gibbons hurried to 37 not out while Gregory Sampson was unbeaten on 11, having faced just 11.3 overs.

Social Club 154 Devonshire 155 Bruce Perinchief claimed five for 33 off 15 overs of spin and Roger Trott hit 61 off 62 balls with six fours and three sixes as home team Devonshire Rec.

scored a comfortable six wicket win.

Despite losing openers Webster Mills and Gladwin Richardson cheaply, Social Club recovered to post 154 with number three Thomas Brangman scoring 33, including five boundaries, and Vance Gilbert following up with 43.

Gilbert hit two sixes and four fours from 40 balls as he led the tailend fight that included an eighth wicket stand of 33 with Cecil Tucker (15) as they took the score from 91 to 124. A further 20 came for the ninth wicket between Gilbert and David Saltus.

First-change Perinchief led the Rec. bowling after Mark Trott, sharing the new ball with Winston Trott, claimed three for 74 from 22 overs. Trott, Anthony Amory and Erskine Smith got the other three wickets.

Devoshire were given a start of 35 by Albert Steede (21) and Lloyd Smith (13).

And though Kevin Bean grabbed two wickets in the space of four runs for Social Club to put Rec. at 39-2, the match was quickly back in the home team's favour with a stand of 92 for the third wicket between Mark Ray and Roger Trott.

After Ray was third out for 43, and Terry Fray went cheaply, Trott carried the team to their target with his unbeaten 61. Amory was there at the other end unbeaten on 10.

Bean was the best bowler for Social Club with two for 32.

Hamilton Parish 256 Southampton Rangers 184-6 Despite one of their best batting displays of the season Hamilton Parish were still unable to pull off a victory against Southampton Rangers at Police Field in a game that ended in a draw.

Parish, however, had the satisfaction of seeing several batsmen get valuable batting practice with Phillip Burgess leading the way with 67.

Others making major contributions were Irving Burgess with 39, Michael Burgess 31 not out, Chris Caisey 22, Curtis Lee 21 and Jahmiko Marshall and Cal Burgess 15 apiece.

The best partnership came when Parish were 41 for two as Phillip Burgess and Irving Burgess added 79 for the third wicket.

Skipper Keith Wainwright, bowling his off spinners for the first time in a Premier Division game, finished with impressive figures of seven for 53 off 17 overs. He was one of eight bowlers used.

Sent in to bat at 4.50 p.m. Southampton made the game interesting for a while, thanks to an opening stand of 78 between Olin Jones and David Stoneham. Jones made 59 and Stoneham 70 not out.

Jones was the dominating partner, hitting eight fours and reaching his 50 off just 38 balls. But once he was out a draw always seemed to be the inevitable result.

Stoneham, rarely hitting out, weathered the attack and remained at the wicket when play was stopped at 7.40 p.m.

The other high scorer was Quinton Burch with 22. Curtis Lee had two for 22 and Michael Burgess had two for 48.

Somerset Bridge 64 Police 65-1 Police scored an expected comfortable victory over Somerset Bridge at White Hill, thanks to an outstanding bowling performance by fast bowler Michael Jackman.

He took five for 25 off 13 overs, including four maidens, to tear the heart out of the lowly home side who lost their first five wickets for just 25 runs.

Also among the wicket takers were Roger Blades and Tyrone Smith. Blades took two for seven off 12.3 overs, including six maidens, while Smith had two for 11 off seven overs and one maiden.

It was a miserable day at the wicket for Bridge with only two batsmen reaching double figures, opener Tony Cheeseman and Brian Gibbons each scoring 10 apiece.

Police required just 20.5 overs to reach their winning target with David Greenidge scoring 32 not out and Stevie Lightbourne undefeated on 23. Skipper Dennis Archer's was the lone wicket to fall after scoring just three.

Nationals 130 PHC 90 Nationals picked up their first win of the season, and moved a couple of places off the bottom of the standings in the process, when PHC failed to reach a modest winning target.

At tea, Nationals had crawled along to 84-7 before a last wicket stand of 30 between bowlers David Gibbons (18) and David Wright (12 not out) frustrated PHC.

The Nationals batting was led by opener James Broadbent who scored 36 before being ninth out when the score was 100, while captain Neil Speight chipped in with 15 which came off 51 balls in 65 minutes.

Charles Symons led the PHC bowling with five for 17 from 15 overs while Calvin Waldron took three for 15 off 13.3 overs, both bowlers having seven maidens.

No PHC batsman made a sizeable score as Nationals won by a comfortable 40 run margin. Mark Smith was high man with 18 while Waldron was next with 13 not out.

Spinner James Thomas did the bowling damage for Nationals with five for 18 from 5.5 overs while Grant Tompkin took two for 27.

HOWZAT! -- Bay's Cal Dill sees his his leg stump uprooted by Cleveland's Diallo Sharrieff at Sea Breeze Oval yesterday. Wicketkeeper is Allan Douglas.