Only hours after advancing to the Central Counties final after opponents Police failed to show, Social Club retained their Premier Division Two-Day league status as they defeated Devonshire Rec. in a see-saw bowl-off at St.John?s Field that had to be decided by sudden death.

When a victor couldn?t be determined after the teams remained deadlocked upon completion of their allotted five attempts bowling at the stumps, officials had to enforce the tiebreaker.

And after each team?s entire roster had tried their luck, it was Social Club?s Jahmiko Marshall who finally settled the issue by hitting the target for the second time during the decisive showdown.

?It was all down to the wire when Jahmiko closed it out for us,? said Social Club player/coach Charlie Marshall?Jahmiko was the hero today by first getting the ball rolling for us and then ending it all.?

For Devonshire the loss marked a double whammy, having earlier been dethroned as Central Counties champions at the same venue.

They will now join the First Division Two-Day ranks next season while taking their place in the top flight will be Leg Trappers who clinched promotion via a ten-wicket trouncing of Warwick last week.

Earlier on Saturday Social Club turned up at Police Field only to learn their opponents had forfeited the match.

According to one Central Counties official, the men in uniform had notified the committee of their intentions though Social Club maintained they were never informed of any changes.

?It was a bit disappointing because the guys wanted to play cricket. I was never informed about anything until I turned up at the ground and the umpire (Lester Harnett) informed me Police were not going to show up,? Marshall added.