last weekend have set the stage for an exciting second half of the season.

After Bay looked to be running away with everything, the double defeat has opened up all sorts of possibilities with one trophy already slipping from their grasp and a host of teams now breathing down their necks in the league race.

Bay crashed to their lowest total of the season on Saturday when St. George's dismissed them for just 61 in the Camel Cup final. They next day they were sent in on a damp wicket at Police Field and were bundled out for 117 as Police beat them by six wickets.

Bay went into Saturday's final with some internal problems as the bulk of the players insisted Dennis Pilgrim be put in the team in place of Jason Anderson.

They got their way but the end result was a failure to score 127 runs for victory.

"Congratulations to St. George's, they played well,'' said Bay captain Charlie Marshall as the defeat sank in this week. "They have always done well in knocking teams down if they got out cheaply. But even when I got out I still felt confident we would get the 127.'' St. George's captain Herbie Bascome admitted to knowing of the conflict within the Bay team prior to the start. But St. George's had problems of their own with a broken hand robbing them of top spinner Eugene (Calabash) Foggo -- he still hasn't ruled out recovering in time for Cup Match -- and all-rounder Mark (Beaver) Ray being called in to work on the morning of the match.

Also, in the middle of his spell, Gregg Foggo pulled up with a hamstring injury which put him on the sidelines.

"I felt we had the game when Mackie Crane came on and he got us a wicket after Gregg's injury and continued to bowl well,'' said Bascome.

"I think when we play Bay again we'll have to come up with the same commitment from our pace bowlers, including myself. We're going to have to get the early order batsmen early.'' Added Bascome: "We heard a little bit about the problem, but the main thing was to try to keep the morale in my team high and not get caught up in that.

Sometimes that could flow right into us and we could get too relaxed.

"We showed them that in order to be champs you have to come with heart and stay with heart and whatever decisions are made, to go with them.'' Bascome saw the result as a boost for the St. George's community in the build-up to Cup Match, but unfortunately for them they, like Bay, lost on Sunday in the league to blow a good chance to move within five points of top spot.

Upcoming games are sure to separate the title contenders from title pretenders, with Willow Cuts no doubt already kicking themselves after wasting a chance to move level with Bay when they failed in their chase for a low winning total against Devonshire Rec.

Most of the top teams still have to play each other with Bay due to meet Southampton Rangers, St. George's, Western Stars and Willow Cuts in four successive games before and after Cup Match that will likely decide the championship.

Joint leaders Rangers meet Western Stars next weekend before taking on Willow Cuts and St. David's next month while Stars also have to play St. David's.

The 10th round of league games has been brought forward from Saturday, July 31 -- the day after Cup Match -- to July 25. With matches also scheduled for August 1, it would have meant the Island's top players playing four consecutive days.