PHC endured a disappointing debut in the Premier Division Open competition yesterday at White Hill Field, going down by five wickets to Bailey's Bay.

Sent in on a grassy wicket, PHC survived the new ball threat of Corey Hill and Noel Gibbons for 12 overs before Gibbons finally got the breakthrough, trapping Antoine Greene for two when the score was eight. Three more wickets fell in the 13th, 16th and 17th overs as PHC slumped to 26-4, a position from which they never recovered.

Wickets fell regularly with only Gerald Simons in the middle order offering some resistance, top-scoring with 19 before he fell to Dennis Pilgrim. Captain Cal Waldron, batting at number nine, was the only other PHC batsman in double figures with 11.

Hill led the Bay bowling with four for 21 from 15.2 overs while Gibbons claimed three for 16 off 14 overs. Glenn (Smith) Blakeney chipped in with two for 18 from eight overs of spin.

Bay enjoyed a good start as Ricky Hill and Roger Trott put on 46 for the first wicket, Hill scoring 20 and Trott 23. Trott went first and Hill followed on the same score as PHC exploited the uneven bounce of the wicket by taking two more wickets on 55 to make it 55-4.

However, the target was easily within Bay's reach. Captain Charlie Marshall carried them to victory with an unbeaten 23 although Blakeney, Gibbons and Desmond Crockwell all went cheaply, adding just 11 runs between them.

Kallan Johnston was the best of the three bowlers used by PHC, taking four for 29 from nine unchanged overs.

Police 211-9 declared Willow Cuts 129-6 Willow Cuts and Police had to settle for the only draw in the Premier Division yesterday as bad light stopped play with eight of the final 20 overs remaining in Cuts' innings at Somerset.

A draw looked the more likely outcome when Police finally declared at 4.18 p.m. though Cuts moved along steadily with some good batting from Dwayne Basden who shared in stands of 27 and 28 for the first and second wickets with Jermaine Warner and Dwight Basden. Dwayne Basden scored 53 to lead the Cuts batting while captain Dexter Basden hit 22.

Ferdinand Thorne claimed four for 25 to finish as Police's top bowler. The match had started 70 minutes late after both umpires failed to show, leaving two volunteers to make sure that the contest got underway.

Cuts, winning the toss and sending their opponents in, had some early success when they got the wickets of Donovan Livingston and Ferdinand Thorne in the fifth and eighth overs to leave the visitors at 23-2.

However, a third wicket stand of 79 between captain Dennis Archer (58) and Stevie Lightbourne (30) put Police back in contention. Archer hit five fours and two sixes.

After Archer and Lightbourne departed, Tyrone Smith chipped in with a brisk 61 in the middle order from seven fours and three sixes and he was supported by a useful 31 late in the innings by Peter Philpott.

Ossie Hinds and Brian Gibbons were the pick of the Cuts bowlers, Hinds taking four for 43 from 12 overs against his former team-mates while Gibbons marked his debut for Cuts with four for 54 from 13 overs.

The former Somerset Bridge allrounder had to wait a while before being called up as he was the fifth bowler used by captain Dexter Basden. However, he responded with his first two wickets in his second over -- Lightbourne and Archer -- and then added the scalp of Dwayne Leverock in his seventh over.