The onus will be on Southampton Rangers and Bailey’s Bay, this weekend’s Twenty20 finalists, to show the positive sides of cricket in the wake of last weekend’s brawl at the Champion of Champions final between Cleveland and Willow Cuts.

The Bermuda Cricket Board has promised swift action after Jason Anderson of Cleveland and George O’Brien, the Willow Cuts guest player, were involved in a brawl which overshadowed the competition’s return after a long absence.

“The way it went down it was shocking to everybody, when you see the video,” Irving Romaine, the Bailey’s Bay coach, said.

“Cricket will be the loser overall. As Allan Douglas said in the paper, I don’t think it was a club versus club situation. It was just a situation that got out of hand, between two players. Jason was the wicketkeeper when George took all those wickets in Cup Match last year and then they played together in Cup Match again this year.

“It just reflects what’s happening in society today, I guess, and it spills over into cricket.

“It wasn’t a good scene in cricket, with the police car on the field.”

Now Rangers and Bay, who were involved in controversies in their own respective counties this summer, will aim to end the season on a high note when they meet in Sunday’s final at Sea Breeze Oval. The match will follow the First Division’s Twenty20 final between Western Stars and Devonshire Rec, the top two teams in that division.

“A game that is played in the spirit of cricket is definitely needed,” said Romaine, whose Bay side recently lost to Rangers in a low scoring match at Southampton Oval in the league.

“Both games have to be played in a good spirit to bring the cricket atmosphere back so the fans can enjoy their day. Cricket has been marred by what happened last weekend and the whole season has been episodes. Cricket is still a gentleman’s game.”

Last Sunday’s final Premier Division game between Bailey’s Bay and Cleveland was called off at the request of Bailey’s Bay in the wake of the incident at Lord’s and with tensions possibly still looming between the clubs following the incidents in the counties match.

“From what went down on the Saturday, we discussed it and didn’t want to put ourselves in a predicament with the 20/20 final coming up,” said Romaine, who pointed out that the teams would have finished second and third in the final tables regardless of the outcome.

“We haven’t seen each other since county cup and anything could have happened, not saying it would have. I spoke to Clay [Smith] and called Neil [Speight] from the Bermuda Cricket Board and told them we didn’t want to play. Their season was over, we had a final to play in and we couldn’t afford anything to happen.”

Both Bay and Rangers will be missing players for the season-ending final, with Zeiko Burgess and Jordan Smith of Bay having returned to school abroad while the likes of Coolridge Durham may opt to play for new club Somerset Trojans in the Dudley Eve on Sunday at Devonshire Rec.

Terryn Fray and Azende Furbert are also now concentrating on football and could be missing on Sunday, Romaine said.

Rangers are the T20 defending champions, after beating Willow Cuts by eight wickets in the final which was postponed from the end of last season and played at the start of this season.

Alex Dore, the Rangers hero with a boundary-filled knock of 55 from 23 balls, will be missing for the champions as he is in school abroad.

*Del Hollis of St David’s has been named as the winner of the weekly Chivas Cricket Sportsman Award.

For at least the last 15 years Hollis has been preparing the pitches at Lord’s as well as maintaining the area surrounding the field, then suiting up to play for St David’s.

During the innings break Hollis can be seen sweeping and marking the pitch for the second innings. Once the match is over he returns to the pitch to continue the work needed to prepare the wicket for the next game, including repairing the bowler’s foot marks, watering and rolling.