Somerset will be without the services of top all-rounder Dion Stovell for at least another year.

The Southampton Rangers and Bermuda cricketer attended his first training session at Somerset this week and had originally been included in the Vice-President’s XI for tomorrow’s final trial.

However, he was later omitted from the squad after it was deemed that he had not met the club’s criteria allowing him to play in the final trial, thus ruling Stovell out of this year’s Cup Match at Somerset Cricket Club altogether.

Michael Corday, the Somerset chairman of selectors, said that including Stovell in the final trial would have gone against club policy and “sent out the wrong message”.

He added: “We have set a standard and a precedent and no player can expect to be included based on one training session — the standards we have set are too high for that.

“No player is bigger than the game or the club and it is nothing personal at all about this decision, which collectively we feel is the right one.

“Dion is a valuable commodity and you cannot argue that the guy is one of the best there is. But we cannot allow our standards to slip, with the morale of the team so high and players fighting for places every week.

“If you are not showing us the appropriate interest and are not committed to us, then we need to be fair across the board. And, because the team morale and camaraderie is so high, we just think it would be a mistake to lower our standard now. There is more than one player that probably should be included.”

Asked why was Stovell originally included in the Vice President’s XI, Corday said: “We had him in the team because we actually thought he would attend more training sessions. It is as simple as that. The standard has been set and we just cannot allow this. No single player is bigger than the game.”

Stovell, who has been in peak form with both bat and ball lately, made himself unavailable for selection after Somerset’s two-wicket loss at Wellington Oval in 2011. “Dion took himself out of the equation because obviously he did not get dropped,” Corday said.

Moving forward, Corday said the door remains wide open for the player to try to regain a place next year and beyond. “There is a future for anyone at Somerset Cricket Club, but they have to adhere to certain standards and certain criteria,” he said.

Somerset are expected to make at least one change from last year, with Kamau Leverock remaining in England with Horsham, his local club in Sussex, and MCC Young Cricketers.

The same can be anticipated in the east, where St George’s will be without Treadwell Gibbons Jr.

The Cleveland County player’s position had been the subject of speculation through much of the season after the controversy that he was at the centre of in the 2013 classic. But the club, despite not selecting him for the initial trials, refused comment.

Any such doubt can now be dispensed with, however, after St George’s named their squads for the final trial this week and the left-hander was again missing, effectively ruling him out of Cup Match.