Sinclair Smith has resisted interest from champions Somerset and pledged his allegiance to St George’s, his home-town club.

The 24-year-old wicketkeeper admits the attention from the other end was flattering but St George’s was always his obvious choice, even though five of his Bailey’s Bay team-mates are with Somerset.

Smith, who transferred to Bay from St George’s in 2008, was possibly seen as the eventual replacement for Jekon Edness who led Somerset to victory last year at Wellington Oval before stepping down as captain.

“There was an opportunity at both ends but I have stuck with my heart and my roots,” said Smith, the grandson of former St George’s footballer Cal Rayner who died last year.

“It’s nice to know people are taking notice of your talent, but I’m not one to put myself out there for it. The classic is the pinnacle of Bermuda cricket and [going to Somerset] would definitely have ruffled some feathers.

“Sometimes your community means more than the opportunity up the road. Fans from both clubs spoke to me, I had never dealt with that before so it was a new experience for me.

“It really started to get bad at the beginning of July, once we started to get closer to the classic.

“Eastern Counties is the next biggest thing but there is definitely some excitement and I have a fair chance this year to get in.

“Somerset was the first place I watched Cup Match with my papa so that is an extra incentive.

“I feel I have prepared myself, I’m relishing the challenge. I’ll give my all and let the chips fall where they may.”

Smith and Temiko Wilson are the two contenders for the wicketkeeping job with Jason Anderson, who has been banned for life, and Christian Burgess, who is injured, both unavailable.

Anderson and Burgess played in last year’s losing team and Smith and Wilson could both be selected after Saturday’s trial match, with Wilson capable of getting in on his batting.

“It’s good to see the competition in St George’s, we’ve always been blessed with good wicketkeepers,” said Dean Minors, who made his debut as wicketkeeper in 1988 when St George’s also picked Allan Douglas, their wicketkeeper at the time.

“Early in my career both Allan and I had good seasons with the bat as well as the gloves so at that time they took both of us,” Minors said. “In the second innings I hurt my finger catching a delivery from Dale Fox and “Dougie” had to take the gloves from me.

“It’s healthy in the sense that both Jason and Christian are not available due to different circumstances. When Christian becomes available next year they’ll have three wicketkeepers vying for one or two spots.

“Competition is always healthy and whichever keeper is selected can cement their place for the next couple of years.”

Minors and Douglas played together again in 1989 when Douglas was the wicketkeeper.

The following year Douglas challenged the selectors to pick him as the main wicketkeeper or not at all.

They responded by putting him back behind the stumps as Minors was dropped.

Douglas reached the highlight of his Cup Match career by being voted most valuable player after his unbeaten 76 in the first innings helped rescue St George’s from a perilous 73 for five.

Douglas played once more in 1991 before retiring from Cup Match at the age of 34.

His 25 dismissals ranks him fourth on the list headed by Dennis Wainwright, who had 37, while Minors, and Ricky Hill of Somerset, are joint fifth in the all-time rankings with 20 catches and stumpings.

“I’ve been a strong believer that over the two days you have to have a true wicketkeeper, a wicketkeeper-batsman as one catch or stumping can turn the game,” Minors said. “I’m not surprised there was some talk about Somerset being very interested [in Smith].”