Bailey's Bay 173 St. George's 143 Last season's most valuable player Clarkie Trott returned career-best figures of eight wickets for seven runs to lead champions Bailey's Bay to a second straight Camel Cup triumph at Somerset yesterday.

The final was closer than the margin of victory indicated after St. George's turned the match around with a seventh wicket stand of 71 -- the biggest of the match -- which put panic in the Bay camp just when they appeared set to wrap up a convincing victory.

The most important gamble facing captain Chris Smith was when to bring back his key bowler, Trott.

Lewis (Bussy) Foggo and Troy Hall were well set, having carried St. George's out of trouble from 63-3 to a position where the match could have gone either way with plenty of overs still remaining.

Smith's decision to bring back Trott early and risk not having him to bowl during the crucial last few overs paid off as in the first two deliveries of his third spell he bowled Foggo for a classy and mature 37 which came in 89 minutes and then removed Sinclair Gibbons first ball after a skied shot to deep mid-off.

At 134-8 the match was now firmly back in Bay's favour and Trott's third spell was to last just nine deliveries as he picked up the last two wickets of Hall for 33 and last-man Del Tyrell to complete an astonishing spell of bowling which beat his best last season of seven-for-nine.

The defeat marked the first time that St. George's had lost in a Camel Cup final, having won on three previous appearances, the first time when it was the Premier Cup.

"When I came off (first spell) they told me I had only given up three runs so I knew I could bowl 10 overs and only give up about 10 runs,'' said Trott afterwards. He admitted St. George's gave them a scare during the partnership between Foggo and Hall. "Basically what I was telling the bowlers was that we really didn't have to get them out, but stay in the `v' and not give up any boundaries.

"I never give up until the game is over. St. George's have a strong team, they stick together and they always give Bay a lot of fight.'' Bay, in defence of their total of 173, had the best possible start when Trott took two wickets in his first over to have them in early trouble at 3-2.

Captain Graham Fox and Ryan Steede steadied things briefly before Fox was caught by the wicketkeeper in front of the wicket, though he insisted afterwards that the ball came off his thighpad.

Further wickets fell on 23 and 36 before Clevie Wade threatened to turn the match with a stubborn knock of 26 before he fell to a brilliant diving catch at backward point by Jermaine Outerbridge.

Foggo and Hall then added 71 in 69 minutes with some smart running between the wickets, eventually forcing captain Smith to alter his bowlers in a bid to break the partnership that threatened to end their brief reign as champions.

"Bussy and Troy really caused us a problem so it boiled down to the point, even with so many overs on the board, that Clarkie had to come back,'' said Smith. "And it proved the right move.

"I must say St. Geroge's did well and really gave us a scare. After having them six for 60-odd, for them to get the score they got is good cricket on their behalf. But we stuck to our game plan.'' Earlier Smith led Bay's batting with 45, including four fours and a six in two hours and five minutes. After putting on 50 for the first wicket with Ricky Hill, Bay lost three wickets in 17 minutes to be 62 for three as St. George's hit back.

However, stubborn resistence in the middle order, which included a valuable stand of 40 for the sixth wicket between Irving Burgess (32 not out) and Irving Romaine (19), enabled Bay to reach a respectable total in 48.5 overs.

David Adams was the best of the St. George's bowlers with three for 28 while Tyrell claimed two for 32 and Ricky Hodsoll two for 25.

The teams had contrasting victories in Saturday's semi-finals. Bay hammered Devonshire Rec. by 120 runs at Nationals after scoring 192-7 and then dismissing Devonshire for 72. Ricky Hill scored 88 for Bay while Anthony Edwards claimed five wickets for Devonshire.

The match between St. George's and Cleveland was not decided until the final delivery when St. George's replied to Cleveland's 150-7 in 37 overs (the match was reduced to 42 overs because of a late start) with 151-8 after needing 30 runs in the last four overs.

That target came down to three in the final over after 20 runs were scored off an over from Del Hollis and victory was achieved on the last ball when Troy Hall took a single off Corey Lowe. Albert Simons hit 35 not out for Cleveland and then took four for 43 in a losing cause.