St. George's 151 Western Stars began their season with a major scalp, beating fellow Camel Cup semi-finalists St. George's by 77 runs at Wellington Oval yesterday.

Number three bat Jermaine Postlethwaite laid the foundation for Stars winning total, smashing 81 off 118 balls including seven fours and two sixes, before the Stars spin trio of Arnold Manders, Hasan Durham and Justin Robinson slowed up St. George's' run chase with six of the wickets.

The home team had early success when Gregg Foggo bowled Treadwell Gibbons in the second over of the game. That brought Postlethwaite to the wicket as he and captain Albert Steede quickly added 41 for the second wicket before Steede was trapped lbw by Ryan Steede's first ball. Steede hit 24 in the partnership.

Useful knocks of 26 and 23 by South African Saleem Mukudem and Cleon Scotland kept the runs coming in the middle order as Postlethwaite and Mukudem added 84 for the fourth wicket before both were run out in the space of seven runs.

The last five Stars wickets fell for just 25 as Graham Fox picked up three for 28 off nine overs to lead the St. George's bowling. His cousin Gregg Foggo returned two for 36.

St. George's used six bowlers, all seamers, with no spinners to call on in the absence of Eugene Foggo and David Adams.

Then the east enders didn't enjoy the best of starts after having four overs deducted from their innings for a slow overs rate. Dexter Smith departed on the first legitimate delivery bowled by Mukudem in Bermuda. His first ball was a wide but Smith drove a catch to Cleon Scotland in the short extra covers on the very next delivery.

Mark Ray and Sinclair Gibbons added 39 for the second wicket before the latter was stumped off youngster Sam Stevens who picked up a second wicket two balls later when he had Graham Fox caught behind to make it 40-3.

Ray continued to watch partners come and go as, first, Ryan Steede, then Dean Minors briefly promised to help launch a fightback before Manders removed both -- Steede for 13 and Minors for 12.

Captain Herbie Bascome was the next high man in the innings with 15 but by then eight wickets had already gone down with the home team still 80 runs short of victory.

Ray was finally last out when he hit across the line to a Robinson delivery and was trapped lbw. His two-and-a-half hour 69 included three fours and a six.

Manders finished with three for 42 while Stevens claimed two for 28 and Robinson two for 21.