Leaders Forties maintained their 100 percent record with a workmanlike victory over nine-man St. David's while nearest challengers Jamaican Association remained on their heels by beating bottom club North Village by six wickets as Commercial Cricket reached the halfway point of its league programme.

Newcomers Centurions followed up their win over Village the previous week with a seven-point "winning" draw against Devonshire Stars - former skipper Derek Smith marked his return to the Stars fold with 33 and two wickets after an abortive attempt to force his way into Cleveland County's Premier League team - to open up a 17-point lead over Village at the foot of the table.

A number of last-minute withdrawals left St. David's two short at Shelly Bay and the east enders paid the penalty by being bundled out for a paltry 54 by Forties who went on to record their sixth victory in a row.

Only skipper Ernest McCallan, who made 17, and teenager Jahson Smith (10) made any impact as pace bowler David Jarrett led the way with three for 30 from in six overs. Maclaren Lowe took two for 32 in nine overs but Gerald Bean eased Forties home to a seven-wicket success in 19 overs with an unbeaten 25.

Confusion over the venue saw a number of Village players mistakenly head for the Royal Naval Field in Somerset - in fact, their match against Jamaican Association was at Garrison Field at the other end of the Island.

Not all of the players who headed west made the journey back and although Village eventually scrambled to put a team together they were short on batting and proved no match for the Jamaicans, struggling to 73 for nine in a game reduced to 40 overs a side because of a late start.

Village suffered a major setback when in-form batsman Mike Levon went for a duck, skying a catch, and the only significant contributions came from Wendell Lindsay (21) and Webster Mills (20). Norman Godwin snapped up five for 23 in 13 overs while Lloyd Morrison chipped in with two for 23 from 13 overs.

Opener Clive Barrett hammered four sixes in a breezy knock of 28 and wicketkeeper Sefton Hall made 23 as the Jamaicans strolled to victory, knocking off the runs in the 24th over. Slow bowler Dion Ball took two for 12 from seven overs.

"We played some bad shots," admitted Lindsay whose team will be looking to open their account when they return to Garrison Field to take on St. David's this Sunday.

Devonshire Stars, chasing 193 for victory, needed 12 runs to win off the final over to beat Centurions at the Royal Naval Field but lost the wicket of Larry Allen and had to settle for three points when they could muster only nine runs from the other five balls.

Simon Lambert (29) and Alistair McNeish (35) gave Centurions a fine start after they were sent in and further good knocks by Angus Lynn (31) and Bruce Currie (35), plus an explosive four-ball innings of 14 by Troy Berkeley, carried the total to 192 before they were all out in the final over.

Jason Bailey, with three for 28 from 8.5 overs, and skipper Andr? Smith, with three for 40 from 10 overs, were the pick of the Stars attack while Derek Smith's two for 45 came from 12 overs.

Brian Trott (38), Derek Smith (33), Chico Trott (28), Fred Simons (22) and Bailey (21) all got among the runs for Stars but victory just eluded them in a nail-biting finish.

Lambert seized his chance in the absence of key bowlers Paul Lindo and Dennis Cherry, claiming five for 47 in 12 overs.

"It was a good match - it went right down to the wire," said skipper Smith, who explained that his namesake Derek had left Stars to join Cleveland this season hoping to play in the Eastern Counties Cup which begins on July 19.

"But Derek couldn't get a place in the team and when he realised he wasn't going to make Eastern Counties the coach (Grant Smith) told him to `go and have some fun with Stars'."