Stephen Outerbridge has stepped down as captain of Bailey’s Bay to concentrate more on his duties as club treasurer, but the win he hoped to get in his final match leading the team never materialised when Saturday’s Eastern Counties match with Cleveland was interrupted by rain.

“I have stepped down and “Picnic” [Rodney Trott] is captain of Bay now,” Outerbridge said yesterday. “After Saturday’s match I handed it over to him, I discussed it with him earlier in the season so he knew what was happening.

‘I had spoken to some of the elder statesmen in the team and told them of my intentions which was go to out with a win. Sometimes you know when it’s time and the time has come to pass it on to “Picnic”. I’m sure he has some new ideas and along with some of the old ones it should be a good blend.

“I’m the treasurer and helping to keep the club afloat and have introduced a few new incentives and it’s going pretty good. I just want to focus more in that area because there are things I want to do but sometimes didn’t have the time to focus on them.

“I’m focusing on the infrastructure at the club so that we can come out as a real force not just on the field but off the field as well. Last year I really wanted to hand it over, but I said let me have one more crack at it. It didn’t turn out how I wanted but we have a lot of players coming through, so we just have to give players the opportunity. That’s what it’s about.”

Outerbridge, who was also the Bermuda captain for about a year before Janeiro Tucker replaced him last year, was seen as one of the Island’s best young captains, a keen student of the game who led Bay to four trophies two years ago, including the league.

However, last year they did not enjoy the same success as they also lost the Eastern Counties trophy, something Outerbridge was hoping to win back last weekend. They were 107 for three with 17 overs left in their chase of Cleveland’s 228 for nine in 64 overs.

“The way we had set it up we were always set to win the game in the last few overs,” said Outerbridge, who was just out before the rain, caught on the long-on boundary for a duck by Dion Stovell as he tried to accelerate the scoring.

“We had seven wickets in hand, 17 overs left and 120 runs to get at about seven runs an over. It probably would have gone down to the last one or two overs, and I was very confident we would have done it, even though I was out. We were monitoring the [rain] situation all the time and we got to a point where we knew it really wasn’t going to happen for us.

“I thought it was a good game and to get that amount of cricket played was a blessing because that day was scheduled to be rained out.”

Bay looked like making it an early day after having Cleveland 20-4 inside the first hour before Dion Stovell hit a century in a couple of useful partnerships that took the holders past the 200 mark before they used up all of their allotted 64 overs.

“I think the players did realise the opportunity was there but at the end of the day it just wasn’t meant to be,” said the captain. “Terryn [Fray] was in and he is the man in form and batting absolutely wonderful.

“As long as he was in we still had a good chance, we had a few hard hitters still to come in and it would have been interesting to see how the game would have finished if the rain had not come. Full credit to Cleveland, we did have them under pressure early in the match but Dion Stovell batted exceptionally well.

“He is definitely one of Bermuda’s premier batsmen. I thought Lateef [Trott] bowled really well to get five wickets on a very flat wicket. I think our bowlers really had a lot to prove after Cup Match, especially our main attack bowlers. To keep Cleveland under 250 after batting 64 overs on a small field like Bay was a really good job.”

Added Outerbridge: “There’s always next year, we have a very young team so there are going to be plenty of opportunities for them in the future and interesting to see how Cleveland defend their cup in the next game and the next series if they still have it.”