With little separating the teams in the batting department, Bailey's Bay had to rely on some excellent fielding to beat Western Stars in the final of the BF&M Champion of Champions Cup at White Hill Field on Monday.

Stars were chasing Bay's total of 214 which, had they been successful, would have given them an unprecendented third straight Champion of Champions title.

But despite being 107-3 at the halfway stage of their 50 overs, some good bowling and even better fielding swung the match back in Bay's favour and set the stage for a thrilling climax in front of the large, attentive holiday crowd.

"They won the game in the field,'' Stars captain Arnold Manders admitted afterwards. "Our out cricket was a little shabby, and that's where the match was won.

"If you take off the dropped catches and maybe another 40 or 50 runs taken off their score, we would have won the game comfortably. I would say they played the better cricket, batting, bowling and fielding.'' Manders waged a one-man battle to stop Bay from winning the competition for the first time since 1986 when he hit a dogged 55 late in the Stars innings which earned him the best batsman award.

His stay at the crease also took Stars to within 22 runs of victory before he was last out going for another big hit with the team needing to score at more than a run a ball in the last three overs to reach their target.

Even though he failed, Manders was pleased to know that the crowd at least got their money's worth, as two of the Island's top teams lived up to expectations.

"That's definitely the way cricket should be played,'' said the former Bermuda captain. "We're two of the best teams on the Island and whenever we play it's always an exciting match. I know the public got their money's worth.'' Manders defended his decision to send Bay in after winning the toss, pointing to the team's overall performance as the reason for defeat.

"The wicket plays better in the afternoon and we prefer to come from behind,'' said the captain. "Our cricket for both days was poor, the worst for the whole year. I think the lay-off had a lot to do with it.'' Bay captain Ricky Hill knew that one or two key wickets would make Stars' task all the more difficult. They had to wait until 107 runs were on the board before they got perhaps the biggest scalp of all, Albert Steede, but not before he had contributed 48 in his third match in as many days. His total for the weekend -- his first matches since Cup Match -- was 148 and it moved his aggregate for the season to 1,372 from 26 innings.

When Jeff Richardson fell to a brilliant catch at cover point after scoring just five it left Stars in deep trouble at 125-5.

"They got off to a very good start and we were a bit concerned, but in cricket with one or two wickets the whole thing could shift,'' said Hill who took over the team captaincy from suspended Chris Smith a few weeks ago.

"It shifted into our favour and then the pressure went onto them.'' Hill disclosed there was a special approach taken against Stars' most threatening batsmen. "There was a strategy and the strategy was field placement,'' admitted the captain.

"Arnold had in his mind mathematically he could still win the game as long as he had the support from the other end. But we were very fortunate to pick up the necessary wickets to put some pressure back on Arnold. Wickets were going so he had to push it.'' Added Hill: "The wicket was definitely a wicket that runs could be scored on but the field is very big and if you had the field placing right you would get the catches. I thought 220 would have been a very respectable total.

Unfortunately we didn't get it but 214 was obviously enough.''