Nationals 85-2 Players sang, bells rang while the clubhouse reverberated to the sweet sounds of victory yesterday as Western Stars confirmed their status as Bermuda's best in seizing the Premier Division crown.

The celebration followed a drawn match against runners-up Nationals in the league finale which gave the home side the title for the second time in their history, having previously captured first place honours in 1992.

Nationals entered needing to win, while Stars knew a draw would suffice and Stars were officially anointed when the visitors gave up the chase with six overs remaining and 110 runs still needed for the win.

"Glory to Stars,'' screamed one avid fan in adherence to the team motto "no guts, no glory''.

Team captain Arnold Manders, while not showing great outward emotion, was quietly pleased in the overall outcome.

"Obviously this was our goal from the beginning of the season, a lot of guys have put in and we've worked hard throughout and I guess we're receiving the rewards,'' said Manders, while paying credit to Nationals who never surrendered until the final die was cast.

"I wouldn't take away from Nationals' performance today, they won the toss and sent us in and had us in a little bit of trouble to where we couldn't even afford to declare because we didn't have enough runs.

"Obviously we wanted to win, it's a bit disappointing (having to settle for a draw) but we lost a few early wickets and never really recovered.'' As Manders pointed out, the early going was tough for the home side as they lost top run scorer Albert Steede for a rare low total (11) at 14, before make-shift opener Hasan Durham and number three Andre Manders carried the score to 62 when Manders departed after contributing 21.

Soon to follow the path to the pavilion were Ricky Brangman (two) and Jeff Richardson (seven), leaving Stars at 79 for four.

Durham then teamed with his skipper as they produced 68 for the fifth wicket, before the Durham was enticed forward by the spin of Bruce Perinchief, missed and was stumped by Nationals' wicketkeeper and captain Neil Speight for 41.

Manders went on to reach his half century, tallying 52 which included six fours and two sixes.

Perinchief, in a marathon spell of 29 overs unchanged that contained 10 maidens, returned figures of three for 46 and was aided by Alan Corcoran (three for 47), Darrin Lewis (two for 26) and Grant Tompkins (one for 31).

Given just 45 minutes plus the mandatory 20 overs to reach the posted target Nationals set off in a vain search for victory.

And although openers Dennis Trott (16) and Graeme Strange (17) quickly settled into the pursuit, scoring 29 in the first 25 minutes, it was never in the cards, especially once the 20 overs was posted with an asking rate of 7.7 runs per over.

In the end a tame draw was the outcome, with brothers Jason and Darrin Lewis left in the middle, Jason having tallied 33 not out and Darrin unbeaten on 16.

Still there was no shame in the visitors' dressing room as they had completed what rated as one of the most remarkable one year turnarounds, having gone from 16th to second.

"I think we can take a lot of pride in what we've done, I think we've had an outstanding year, there's been a great effort from the whole team and we've probably overachieved,'' said Speight, he and his team-mates appearing not at all downcast about the failed result.

"We set out to finish in the top eight, we've never had the same side twice, but we always found a way to battle on and keep together...I can't even single out one or two players, everybody's done something along the way and I'm very pleased.'' Stars finished with 154 points from 15 matches compared to 151 for Nationals, as defending champs Bailey's Bay could only muster 144 for fifth place overall.