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Police close to surprise victory

Police 236 Police came close to matching the St. David's upset over Bailey's Bay as 10-men St. George's were made to sweat it out at Sea Breeze Oval before scoring a 25-run victory.

It looked safe for St. George's after Wendell Smith and Lionel Cann led them to 261 after Police had asked them to bat first.

St. George's don't usually lose after scoring that many runs, but Police came charging back to stay in the match for the better part of three hours as they threatened to hand the east enders their first loss of the season.

Police lost Barry Richards in the first over when Herbie Bascome trapped him lbw. But a second wicket stand of 102 in 18 overs between captain Dennis Archer and Andrew Rollins laid the foundation for Police's fightback. Archer scored 53 with three fours and four sixes while Rollins matched him with 58 with seven fours and two sixes.

Eugene Foggo removed both in the space of 20 runs. But Police came right back with a fourth wicket stand of 35 between Dave Greenidge and Ferdinand Thorne who each scored 21. Despite a slump which saw them lose four wickets in their middle order for 20 runs, Police were again in contention in the final 10 overs when the 200 came up during an eighth wicket stand of 46 between Bajans Carlyle Greaves and Freston Hurdle.

Police were always on target but the loss of wickets at key stages proved costly. Going into the last 20 overs they needed 98 while in the final 10 overs they were still 53 runs short.

Cann ended the threatening stand between Greaves and Hurdle when he bowled the left-handed Greaves for 12 to make it 223-8. That signalled the end of Police's challenge as Richard Austin went 11 runs later. St. George's captain Herbie Bascome cleaned up by having Hurdle caught behind for 32 which included two fours and two sixes.

Bascome finished with three for 35 from 8.2 overs while Ricky Hodsoll had two for 41, Eugene Foggo two for 43 and Cann two for 64.

Earlier Cann led the St. George's batting with 116 which included 14 fours and four sixes. His 100 came in 91 minutes.

After Hodsoll departed in the third over, Smith and Cann added 144 for the second wicket to lay the foundation for the team's big total. Smith stroked his second 53 of the weekend.

Clevie Wade (31) and Cann added 60 for the third wicket to post the 200 and it proved important as no other batsmen after that reached double figures.

Responsible for the slump were Greaves who took four for 41 from eight overs of left-arm spin while Archer claimed three for 40.