Players and officials will be under close scrutiny when the second round of the Eastern Counties between Cleveland and Flatts is held tomorrow at St David’s.

The 111-year old competition had its image tarnished by the incidents of the first-round match when Cleveland players held up play for 40 minutes while protesting some umpiring decisions.

“There is no excuse, none whatsoever as far as Cleveland’s behaviour, something I don’t think we’ve seen in the 100 years of the tournament,” said Allen Richardson, a former St David’s opening batsman, now cricket commentator who was also previously the vice-president of the Bermuda Cricket Board.

“I never thought I would see players not playing because of umpires’ decisions and there is no excuse for that.

“I would have thought the umpires would have said ‘we’re going to restart this match in five minutes, if not we’re going to abandon the match’.

“The umpires have to be tougher because the minute you show weakness they [players] will take advantage of it.”

Bay were quickly declared the new champions by the Eastern Counties Cricket Association, only for Cleveland to appeal and win, which prompted Bay to boycott the rest of the series and urge their fans to stay away from the next matches.

Richardson thinks the initial decision to strip Cleveland of the title was made too hastily.

“I think it was far too quick, they should have met maybe three days after to let emotions settle and they would have been in a position to make better decisions,” Richardson said.

“I had a feeling that the appeals committee was going to award things in Cleveland’s favour, because the match started again and finished on time.

“If the game is going to finish at 7.20pm then there should be some discretion to allow the match to go on [after that] because there was plenty of daylight.

“Something should have been put in place and commonsense should have prevailed.”

Indications are there will be some changes made after the series, possibly going to 50 or 60 overs-a-side, something which Richardson favours.

This year the overs were changed from 70-48 to 65-53, but it still allows the holders to play for a draw.

“You should make it a straight overs match of 60 overs-a-team and try not to make it so complicated,” Richardson said.

“There should be a mass meeting and hash things out, but the only thing I distrust about club representatives is sometimes you get representatives with agendas, which even hampered meetings with the cricket board. You need players, officials and umpires there, not just the representatives.”

Time was not a factor last year when Cleveland and Flatts met in the final, with Cleveland dismissing Flatts for just 57 in 20.1 overs and then reaching their target by 2.30pm, although rules called for the match to continue until at least 4.30pm in order to give fans some value for their money.

Tomorrow’s match should be closer, with Cleveland weakened by suspensions to three players, Allan Douglas Jr, the captain, Dennis Musson Jr, the vice-captain, and Shaki Darrell after their poor conduct in the first round.

“I know for a fact that there will be many people who will not go to that match on Saturday, simply because of what happened,” Richardson said.

“I don’t give Bailey’s Bay credit for boycotting because the appeals committee gave the cup back to Cleveland. There was a process in place and those are the decisions you have to live by.

“The Eastern Counties is community and family and the roots run deep. That’s why it is so important that the Eastern Counties Association get a firm grip of this.”