for the Green Division title during this demoralising nine-wicket loss against Western Stars at Police field yesterday.

Entering the game undefeated and leading their second-place opponents in the tables, Police were in complete disarray -- both at bat and when they fielded.

In addition to the licking they received at the hands of Stars, who went into first place with maximum points, Police had the grim distinction of having Andre Hendrickson sent off the field of play (after an alleged dispute with his skipper Ferdinand Thorne) during Stars' innings.

With their lone substitute already replacing Dwayne Leverock, who was injured while batting, Police played with 10 men during half of Stars' innings and this burden weighed heavily on their shoulders.

Hero of the day -- which must surely be one of the most frustrating for Police in many years -- was Western Stars' spinner Hasan Durham who finished with five wickets for 15 runs off seven overs. He had one maiden.

Skipper Gary Brangman followed with two for 13 off six overs and two maidens while spinner Arnold Manders proved to be a headache to the batsmen as well, although he wasn't nearly as successful as Durham. Manders had 10 overs, eight maidens and took one for six.

Thorne was top batsman for Police with 29, but too many of his teammates were puzzled by the spinners as the team crept to a meagre 112 off 45 overs.

Hendrickson followed with 19 and opener Clarke hit 17. However, the team just couldn't recover from the early setback when they lost two for 16.

Stars had little difficulty reaching their winning target, doing so off just 25.3 overs with openers Perry Scott (40 not out) and Anthony Foggo (31) putting on 80.

Southampton 393-6 Warwick 166 Hopeful of catching Southampton `hung over' from celebrating their retaining of the Western Counties the previous day, Warwick were instead the ones left wobbling after their hosts took batting practice on a sub-par bowling attack, piling up the season's highest total to date -- 393 -- and confirming their qualifying for the knock-out round of the competition.

Batting first, Southampton saw their first wicket fall at 16. But more than restoring a bit of order were Keith Wainwright and Stevie Lightbourne, both of whom passed the century mark. Wainwright `torched' the bowling for 125 runs including 11 fours and three sixes while 94 of Lightbourne's total of 127 came in boundaries.

The pair engaged in a 187-run, second-wicket partnership which carried the side to 203 when Lightbourne fell to the bowling of Mark Tucker. However, Wainwright soldiered on with new batsman Kwame Tucker (24) for a further 53 runs for the third wicket. The opener also partnered Janeiro Tucker for 73 runs before eventually being dismissed.

Most of the Warwick bowlers came in for severe treatment with Mark Tucker's two wickets costing 74 runs and six overs by Trent Lightbourne producing 78 runs for the opponents although he did manage two scalps.

Warwick lost two wickets at 20 and despite a few spirited knocks Southampton's position was never altered. Trent Lightbourne (34) got back some of the runs he gave up in the field as did skipper Hoyt Zuill (29) and Kallan Johnson (26). Number nine bat Vaughn Tannock weighed in with 29 as medium-pace bowler Gary Williams took three for 44, while Quinton Burch, Clevie Wade and Olin Jones had two apiece.

Willow Cuts 212-8 Somerset 190 Willow Cuts began fighting their so-called war a day later than hoped, but finally entered the battlefield in time to dismantle neighbours Somerset on their home territory in Gold Division action.

Cuts were expecting to come in already having conquered Southampton in the Western Counties the day before. However, after being made to wave the white flag of surrender in that encounter they were not about to let the same fate befall them again.

The first bomb was dropped by Somerset as Donovan Livingston sent opener Andrew Rollins (2) back to the pavilion with just 9 runs on the board. Cuts struck back with Joseph Matthews (43) and Dwayne Basden (8) taking the score to 45 when Basden was given out lbw to Shannon Warner.

Continuing in the attack, skipper Dexter Basden joined Matthews for a 49-run, third-wicket partnership. Basden's painstaking innings of 56 lasted over two hours and included five fours and three sixes while Matthews registered five fours and two sixes.

Other contributors aiding Cuts to their 50 over total of 212 for eight were Kevin Fubler (18), Trevor Dickinson (17), Rodney Fubler (10) and Anthony Fubler (16). Perry Maybury and Mark Bean each took two wickets for Somerset.

After stumbling to 72 for five and looking out of the running, Somerset clawed their way back into contention spurred on by a half century by Livingston (64) and 39 for Cordell Gilbert. But the die was cast with their removal as the hosts were soon all out 22 runs short of the desired target, their destruction largely due to the spin of Kevin Fubler who took four wickets.

Social Club 206 Nationals 209-8 Lowly Social Club turned in one of their better batting performances of the season, but it still wasn't enough to prevent host Nationals from scoring a two-wicket victory at Nationals.

Nationals reached victory off 46 overs with opener Jason Lewis and Albert Jenkins each slamming 46. Skipper Mark Ray was also among the runs with 43 while John Ray struck 32 and Nigel Pichery was undefeated with 10.

Nyon Steede led the Nationals' bowling attack with four wickets for 49 while Jason Lewis had two for 34.

Number eight batsman Cecil Tucker helped Social Club to their formidale total with 53 runs off just 51 balls, striking five fours and three sixes.

Player-coach Lee Raynor sr. followed with 49 (three fours and a six off 59 balls) while Cal Grimes scored 38.

Raynor was also sharp with the ball, taking four for 28 off his 10 overs while Karl Furbert took two for 23.

Cleveland 228 St. George's 231-7 Paceman Albert Simons, upset by the punishment he received from Clay Smith and the ribbing he got from the crowd, stormed off the field in this tense match at Wellington Oval which St. George's won by seven wickets.

Simons was hit for a six, four, two and two singles by Smith in his final over as Smith paced St. George's to a shock win with 2.3 overs remaining, a similiar result to two years ago when they scored 200 in two hours to beat Cleveland.

The tenson increased after Smith was run out for 93 by Cleveland captain Peter Philpott while he was in his bowling stride as Smith was caught out of his crease. Smith, looking for a century before returning to school this week, had put on 127 with Graham Fox to rescue St. George's from 74-4 and take them to the brink of victory.

Smith hit 11 fours and two sixes in his knock while Fox hit six fours and a six in his 68 not out, an innings his captain Wendell Smith later described as "probably the best innings he's played for us''.

Fox finished off the match with two fours boundaries off Philpott who gave up 12 runs in his last three deliveries, including a bye four.

Openers Ryan Steede (13) and Troy Hall (20) had given St. George's a 30 run start in chase of the Cleveland total of 228. After the stand was broken St.

George's lost two more quick wickets to be 43-3 but Cleveland still had to contend with the Smith brothers and Fox who had been dropped down the order to give the youngsters a chance.

Clay, batting at number four, and brother Wendell at five, took the score from 43 to 74 for the fourth wicket when the latter was out, trapped lbw by Johnny Richardson for 20.

After the stand between Clay and Fox was broken they slumped from 201-5 to 213-7 before Fox and Jason Anderson put on 18 for the eighth wicket to complete the win. Earlier the Cleveland batting was led by number eight batsman Del Hollis who scored five fours and four sixes in his 64 not out.

Aaron Adams scored 48 and Philpott 48 in support while Allan Douglas hit 21.

Hall claimed three for 18 from 5.2 overs while Clay Smith took three for 64, giving up 27 in his last over, while Fox took two for 20.

Som. Bridge 96 St. David's 97-8 After Herbie Bascome claimed the last six Somerset Bridge wickets to finish with amazing figures of six for seven from 8.3 overs, with six maidens, St.

David's still made hard work of chasing the modest 97 needed to win at Lord's.

Bridge were 42-4 when Bascome struck, bowling captain David Jones for one.

After that he was virtually unplayable as Bridge scored the bulk of their remaining runs from the other end as the last six wickets produced 54 runs, including 20 from top bat Brian Gibbons.

Captain Ken Pitcher and Scott Minors, sharing the new ball, did the early damage for St. David's with two wickets apiece.

St. David's struggled from the start and were 34-6 before Lionel Cann and his captain added 33 vital runs for the seventh wicket to turn the match around.

Twenty more came in the eighth wicket stand, between Pitcher and Bruce Foggo, as Pitcher led the way with four fours and three sixes in his knock of 42.

Flatts 186 Ham. Parish 186 Limited overs cricket produced its first tie after Hamilton Parish tailender Kent Gibbons was bowled on the third ball of the final over by Troy Dean at Shelly Bay Field.

And because no mention has been made of a tie in the circular released by the Bermuda Cricket Board of Control in regards to points, it was not clear last night if strike rate or run rate would be used to determine the winner or one point issued to each team for the tie.

The circular sent to clubs in January called for two points to be awarded for a win and one point for a no result. No mention was made of a tie.

Andrew Richardson had his highest score for Flatts, 62 in two hours and seven minutes from five fours, while Rodney Woolridge (24) and Derek Wright (23) were the other main run getters. Corey Hill was the best bowler for Parish with five for 46 from 10 overs while Chris Caisey took two for 24 from eight.

Dennis Trott scored 46 in 88 minutes to lead the Parish batting as he and Quinn Outerbridge (42) put on 81 for the second wicket in taking the score from 25 to 106. They soon slumped to 138-7 with number four batsmen Irving Burgess watching as he lost one partner after another.

He and Terry Burgess kept Parish in sight of victory with a 39 run, eight wicket partnership before the latter was bowled by Derek Wright for 11. And then after Phillip Bailey was dismissed with two overs remaining, last pair Irving Burgess and Gibbons were left to score five runs to win.

It ended with Gibbons steering a delivery outside the off stump onto his wicket as Burgess at the other end was left unbeaten on 34, having occupied the crease for 90 minutes.

Devonshire 219 Bailey's Bay 220-7 Charlie Marshall continued his good form with 72 while Glenn Smith hit 67 to share in a match-winning stand of 139 for the third wicket at Sea Breeze Oval.

The Rec total of 219 began to look steep indeed after Bay lost openers Calvin Dill and captain Chris Smith in the second and third overs of their innings with just 19 runs on the board.

But they had to wait two and a quarter hours for their next wicket as Marshall and Smith, Bay's two most productive batsmen this season, set up the victory.

After the pair were removed in the space of 11 runs it was left to Ricky Hodsoll, returning after injury, Anthony Braithwaite and Jermaine Outerbridge to keep the team on the path to victory. Hodsoll scored 15 in 38 minutes while Braithwaite and Outerbridge were both unbeaten on 13 as they put on 27 for the unbroken eighth wicket.

Anthony Edwards, Winston Trott Sr and Leon Place all took two wickets each for Rec. Edwards gave up 32 runs in his 9.4 overs, while the veteran Trott's nine overs cost 58 runs and Place 53 from 10 overs. James Pace got the other wicket to fall.

Earlier, opener Donald Norford was the high man for Devonshire with 67 in 120 minutes off 96 balls while Terry Fray (26), Albert Steede (28), Lloyd Morrison (21) and Winston Trott Sr (19 not out) helped Rec build their total.

After losing Roger Trott with 13 on the board, Norford and Fray added 89 for the second wicket in the team's biggest stand.

FERDINAND THORNE -- Day of headaches for the Police skipper.