St. George's 186-8 Graham Fox struck an undefeated 81 and Herbie Bascome and Mark Ray combined to take eight wickets to lead St. George's to victory over Police in this thrilling Premier League game which ended with the scores tied.

Reduced to 40 overs because of a rain delay, the match at Police Field saw both sides total 186, but the result went the way of the east enders because they lost less wickets, leaving Police to suffer their second shattering loss of the weekend. They also went down to Western Stars in Saturday's Central Counties Cup final.

In their quest for the winning target, St. George's staged a spirited fightback led by Fox who struck five fours and defied the attack until the very end in a knock lasting three hours.

Fox and number 10 bat Mackie Crane joined together for a crucial ninth wicket stand during which they put on 28 runs to enable them to draw level with their opponents' score.

The pair went into the last two overs needing 19 runs, eight of which came off the penultimate over from Dennis Archer.

That left 11 more needed in the last six balls off Freston Hurdle and St.

George's remained on course when Crane scored two each on the first two balls before a single off the third gave Fox the strike. The left-hander then scored two to bring the target down to four on the last two balls.

After a single by Fox, Crane needed three off the last ball for an outright victory, but two proved enough when he drove the ball to Kenny Phillip at long-on to tie the scores.

St.George's win thriller From Page 27 Crane finished unbeaten on 18 while others in double figures for St. George's were Mark Ray with 30, Gregg Foggo with 15 and Dean Minors 11.

Dennis Archer was the leading Police bowler with three for 34 while Richard Austin had two for 38.

Earlier Dwayne Leverock's impressive knock of 72 led Police to their respectable total, striking seven fours and a six. Archer followed with 49 and opener David Greenidge 30.

Bascome led the St. George's bowlers with four for 28 off eight overs while Ray had four for 30 off five overs.

PHC 124-2 Social Club did not bat This game at St. John's field was abandoned at 4.00 p.m. when umpires ruled the pitch unfit for play after rain intervened at 2.12 p.m.

PHC had scored 124 off 23.3 overs with Arthur Richards hitting 72, including 11 fours and a six.

PHC felt that the game was unfairly called with the officials failing to demand that the groundsman put sawdust at the bowler's end which was ruled in an unfit condition.

"They didn't even consider it, they just went out there and looked at the area and called the game off,'' said an angry team spokesman.