One player who kept his place in Cup Match and another who was overlooked again combined to destroy Willow Cuts at Somerset Cricket Club to keep Bailey's Bay in the league title hunt yesterday.

Veteran Gibbons warmed up for his 23rd consecutive appearance in the classic with a fine all-round performance, first stroking five fours and three sixes in a knock of 76 not out and then claiming four for 29 from nine overs to complete Bay's comfortable 139-run win.

Smith, left out by St. George's for the second straight year, took it out on the Willow Cuts bowlers as he hammered seven fours and four sixes in a top knock of 88 as he and Gibbons added 129 for the fourth wicket in taking the score from 95 to 224.

Smith then followed in the example shown by Gibbons and wiped out the Cuts tail-end with figures of four for 14 from three overs.

Chris Smith (35) and Ricky Hill (29) put on 52 for the first wicket for Bay before Charlie Marshall chipped in with 19. Once the top three departed Smith and Gibbons provided the bulk of the remaining Bay runs as the visitors raced to their massive total with two overs of their 50 still remaining by the cut-off at the tea interval.

Cuts were in early trouble with Anthony Fubler departing with just 11 runs on the board. Dwayne Basden (33) and Andre Hendrickson (35) shared in a second-wicket stand worth 46 before Hendrickson became Gibbons' first victim.

Wickets fell regularly after that and Basden was eventually seventh out on 103 as Smith took his first wicket. Only Joseph Matthews with 21 not out offered any resistance as Bay sent Willow Cuts crashing to a heavy defeat.

Southampton 209 Police 127 Thanks to a superb 45 from skipper Ricky Brangman Southampton Rangers overcame a sluggish start and rebounded to defeat visiting Police by 82 runs at Southampton Oval.

The real hero for the home team though was medium-pace bowler Michael Brangman who in a mere two overs tore the heart out of Police by snatching up four wickets for just one run.

Southampton's fortunes turned around after they were struggling at 36 for the loss of five wickets when skipper Brangman and Janeiro Tucker (30) added 65 runs. With further sound contributions from Quinton Burch (30 not out) and Darren Burchall (24), Southampton reached the double-century mark.

Michael Jackman led the Police attack with three for 25 while Richard Austin had two for 45 and skipper Dennis Archer took two for 43.

Like Southampton, Police also had a sorrowful start by losing their first four wickets for 32 runs before a fifth-wicket stand of 69 between Dwayne Leverock (31) and Donovan Livingston (33) steered them out of trouble.

However, of the remaining batsmen, only Roger Blades offered resistance with 12, but this effort alone proved to be insufficent to lead them to their winning target.

With Brangman leading the way the bowling attack got on top and easily tore their way through the lower-order batting. In addition to Brangman's wicket haul, Burch had two for 28 and Clevie Wade two for 30.

Warwick 189 PHC 116 Johnny Nusum slammed 136 and skipper Hoyt Zuill and Estrick Ferguson combined to take seven wickets to help Warwick defeat PHC by 73 runs at White Hill field.

Nusum, who reached his century off 135 balls, unleashed a massive assault on the bowlers and was responsible for blasting them out of trouble after they were floundering at 69 for five.

Nusum, who was dropped at least four times, finished with 16 fours and two sixes. Two others in double figures with 11 were Kallan Johnston and Ferguson.

Lyle Millett was top bowler for PHC with three for 41 while Neil Anglin had three for 45.

PHC were making a spirited fightback at 97 for five when the batting fell apart and they were all out 19 runs later.

Dennis Bell led their batting with 29 while Cal Waldron struck 20, Sheridan Ming 16 and Mark Smith 10. Zuill claimed four for 29 and Ferguson had three for 11.

FORM -- Southampton's Quinton Burch drives handsomely against Police skipper Dennis Archer.