Vintage batting performances by Peter Philpott and Jermaine Postlethwaite allowed Cleveland to administer a thorough beating of the visiting Willow Cuts at Sea Breeze Oval yesterday.

Set a target of 183 the pair combined for 144 runs for the unbroken second wicket with Philpott lashing out for 111 and Postlethwaite 50, his second consecutive half-century.

With a mixture of patience and aggression Philpott dissected the Cuts bowling attack spraying shots to all corners of the pitch.

Such was the desperation of Cuts that they used eight bowlers in their attempt to break up the partnership, all to no avail.

Philpott cracked eight fours and two sixes in his knock, while Postlethwaite had five fours and a six.

Grant Smith was the only Cleveland wicket to fall as he was bowled by Richard Basden for 12.

Cuts had reached their total on the heels of Vivian Simons' knock of 40 combined with valuable contributions by Gladwin Edness (37), Andre Hendrickson (29) and Dexter Basden (21).

Del Hollis spun his way to three wickets, with the remainder shared between five bowlers.

Flatts 130 Somerset Bridge 131-2 This is hardly the way Flatts were hoping to prepare for next weekend's opening Eastern Counties match.

While St. David's were hammering the Warwick bowlers, Flatts could only manage 130 in 36.5 overs against Bridge at nearby White Hill field with their top scorer, Andrew Richardson, not yet eligible for county.

Richardson and Kent Todd put on 52 for the first wicket with Richardson scoring 31 of those runs before falling to Gary Crofton. Seven runs later Todd departed for 19 and though captain Rodney Woolridge scored 24 coming in at number four, there was no major contribution in the middle order as they slumped to 86 for six. The only other Flatts batsman in double figures was Maxwell Lawrence with 15 not out after coming in at number nine with the score 101 for seven.

Crofton led the Bridge bowling with three for 33 while Brian Gibbons, his new ball partner, claimed two for 36 and Eugene Burgess two for 14.

Bridge, themselves preparing for the second round of the Western Counties, settled down to their task despite the early loss of O'Neil Virgil when the score was 15. Tony Cheeseman and Alfred Carter stayed together from the fourth to the 23rd overs in adding 68 for the second wicket as both scored 47.

Cheeseman was the first to depart, stumped by wicket-keeper Rodney Woolridge off the spin of Gerald Sims after hitting seven fours while Carter went on to finish unbeaten with six fours. Robin Swan hit 22 not out to help complete the victory with 17 overs remaining.

Southampton 208-9 Somerset 119 Southampton completed a highly rewarding weekend with a sound thrashing of Somerset at the west end yesterday.

Following the successful defence of the Western Counties Cup the previous day against Warwick there were few signs of over-indulgence as they casually brushed aside their opponents.

The foundation was laid for a big total when both number two and three batsmen Olin Jones and Michael Brangman made half-centuries, Jones with 50 and Brangman 51 as they raced to 85.

However a mini-collapse followed their dismissals until Clevie Wade (21) and skipper Ricky Brangman (40) restored stability, allowing them to reach the double century mark.

Somerset captain Perry Maybury seized five wickets with his right-arm medium-pacers and was assisted by spinners James Swan and Winston Reid with two and one wicket respectively.

The lone bright spot in the Somerset innings was a sparkling knock of 70 by Roger Hunt, which included 15 boundaries. But once he became the victim of a Darren Burchall stumping the bottom fell out of the innings as only Davon Wade (17) and Reid (11) were able to manage double figures.

Quinton Burch claimed four for 29 while Clevie Wade weighed in with three victims, Jones two and Ryan Belboda one.

St. David's 305 Warwick 95 With just a week to go before they put their Eastern Counties title on the line, St. David's opted for batting practice upon winning the toss at Southampton Oval instead of seeking an early result against Warwick.

Allen Richardson and Shea Pitcher gave the islanders a solid start when they put on 100 for the first wicket before Richardson fell to Theodore Morgan for 57. Warwick got their second wicket pretty quickly with captain James Pace scoring just four before he was trapped lbw by Johnny Nusum.

After Lionel Cann fell to Mark Tucker for just 14 to make it 140 for three, St. David's got good contributions in their middle order to pass the 300 mark as Philip Pitcher hit a top score of 64 before being run out.

Eddie Lambe chipped in with 23 and Reginald Pitcher saw them past 300 with a brisk 49.

Then, when three batsmen, Herbie Bascome, George Cannonier and Steven Nurse, all failed to score, including Nurse falling first ball, last man Scott Minors was caught without his gear on and was timed out after failing to get on the field in the allotted two minutes.

Daniel Caines, Hoyt Zuill and Johnny Nusum all claimed two wickets, with Nusum being the most economical with two for 22 from 10 overs.

Warwick, with Kallan Johnston not showing up and Theodore Morgan not batting after getting injured while bowling, lasted just 26.3 overs with Nusum high man with 20 and Peter Harris scoring 16.

Herbie Bascome was the best St. David's bowler with four for 20 from eight overs while Cannonier took two for 20 from 10 overs and Reginald Pitcher two for none from just three deliveries to wrap up the match.