evening...in sole possession of first place in the Premier League.

The West Enders are one of three clubs with maximum points from three matches, but with Western Stars having a bye and St. David's taking on unpredictable Willow Cuts, they could soon be alone in the top spot.

Somerset appear to a new belief in themselves and should be good enough to beat neighbours Somerset Bridge at White Hill field.

Somerset's biggest scalp so far this season has been neighbours Willow Cuts, just a week after Cuts beat Bailey's Bay. Now Somerset will look to their tenants to do them a favour -- and themselves in the process -- by beating St.

David's at Somerset to break the three-way tie.

St. David's won't have player-coach Clay Smith and veteran batsman Allen Richardson available until their suspension ends on July 1, though the club did try to have Smith's ban reduced to allow him to resume playing a month early.

Dashing allrounder Lionel Cann, who hasn't played so far, is expected to be in the St. David's team for the trip to the other end of the Island.

Four other teams are waiting to pounce in case of a slip-up by the top three.

Police, Cuts, Bay and St. George's are all five points off the early pace but at least one of them will lose more ground when St. George's and Bay meet at Wellington Oval.

Those two clubs had a disappointing time in the Camel Cup semi-finals last weekend, losing on the Duckworth/Lewis system after rain halted their matches against Southampton and Western Stars.

Now both will be aiming to bounce back with a good win to restore confidence.

Police, who opened their season with a win over defending league champions Southampton Rangers, should be back to full strength for the trip to Sea Breeze Oval to meet PHC, now that the players who travelled to the Barbados Test match recently have returned.

PHC are yet to win a match though they did come within a wicket of beating Somerset. And Police cannot afford to take them lightly.

The clash between Eastern Counties rivals Flatts and Cleveland at Devonshire Rec. could be a close one as both teams try to climb into the top half of the table with their second win of the season.

Looking for their first win of the season are Warwick and Social Club, though the former have a better chance of beating Devonshire at Southampton Oval than Social Club do of taking the points from Rangers at St. John's field.

Western Stars open the defence of their Central Counties title today when they take on Social Club at St. John's Field at 11.00 a.m.

Social Club are the least likely of the teams to upset the champions so Stars will use the occasion to give exposure to one or two of their upcoming young players.

The winners meet Devonshire Rec. next Saturday in the second round.

The under-14 and under-18 youth leagues begin today. Last season saw matches played on Fridays and Saturdays but now they will be played as double-headers at four different venues on Saturdays for the first six weeks of the season.

The under-14s will begin at 9.00 a.m. and play 25 overs per side while the older boys will begin at 1.00 and play 40 overs a side. Matches are scheduled for Southampton Oval (Southampton v Smith's), Devonshire Rec (Devonshire v Sandys), St. David's (St. David's v Warwick/Paget) and Sea Breeze Oval (Hamilton Parish v St. George's).